I have plenty of information now, but I can't get it into words. I'm afraid it's too big a task for me. Furthermore, I wonder if I will find everything in life too big for my abilities. Well, time will tell." Theodore Roosevelt, writing in naval history in his spare time while in law school

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

I hope to stand firm enough not to go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause.

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

I liked the thought that the book I was now holding had been held by dozens of others.

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

In the reflected gaze of his (her husband's) steady admiration, she saw the face of the girl he had fallen in love with.

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

I opened the curtain and entered the confessional, a dark wooden booth built into the side wall of the church. As I knelt on the small worn bench, I could hear a boy's halting confession through the wall, his prescribed penance inaudible as the panel slid open on my side and the priest directed his attention to me." Yes, my child," he inquired softly. "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. This is my First Confession." "Yes, my child, and what sins have you committed?" ...." I talked in church twenty times, I disobeyed my mother five times, I wished harm to others several times, I told a fib three times, I talked back to my teacher twice." I held my breath. "And to whom did you wish harm?" My scheme had failed. He had picked out the one group of sins that most troubled me. Speaking as softly as I could, I made my admission. "I wished harm to Allie Reynolds." "The Yankee pitcher?" he asked, surprise and concern in his voice. "And how did you wish to harm him?" "I wanted him to break his arm." "And how often did you make this wish?" "Every night," I admitted, "before going to bed, in my prayers." "And were there others?" "Oh, yes," I admitted. "I wished that Robin Roberts of the Phillies would fall down the steps of his stoop, and that Richie Ashburn would break his hand." "Is there anything else?" "Yes, I wished that Enos Slaughter of the Cards would break his ankle, that Phil Rizzo of the Yanks would fracture a rib, and that Alvin Dark of the Giants would hurt his knee." But, I hastened to add, "I wished that all these injuries would go away once the baseball season ended." ..." Are there any other sins, my child?" "No, Father." "For your penance, say two Hail Mary's, three Our Fathers, and," he added with a chuckle, "say a special prayer for the Dodgers. ...

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

I read them (articles TR wrote on his honeymoon) all over to Edith and her corrections and help were most valuable to me.

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

I shall always be grateful for this curious love of history, allowing me to spend a lifetime looking back into the past, allowing me to learn from these large figures about the struggle for meaning for life.

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln, considering a Cabinet nominee: "He is a Radical without the petulance and fretfulness of many radicals.

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

Of Teddy Roosevelt and his siblings, the author writes they were, "armed with an innate curiosity and discipline fostered by his remarkable father.

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

One journalist complemented another that his article on a dispute, "had made both sides see themselves as they are.

— Doris Kearns Goodwin