Theodore Roosevelt on Family

I don't often praise the arch-Progressive Theodore Roosevelt, but I came across this quote and thought it certainly warranted an airing here.

“It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful businessman . . . or farmer, or a successful lawyer, or doctor, or a writer, or a president, or a ranchman . . . or to kill grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison.”

A professor in college once related how Roosevelt would often single out large families for praise when out and about, holding them up as great assets to America. This, obviously, was before the worldwide birth control frenzy that substantially whittled down the average family, transforming children from gifts from God into rapacious economic consumers to be minimized and controlled. In my view, Roosevelt makes up for an array of political solecisms with his pro-family take, which was a common attitude, at one time.