Interesting Quote from Theodore Roosevelt

On a recent visit to Los Angeles I came across this letter in the Central Library:

If you're having a difficult time deciphering the handwriting, here's what it says:

“East and West, good Americans are substantially the same; the differences between them seem trivial when compared with the points of likeness. We Americans of today are wise in developing the joy of living which the Puritan lacked, and the toleration he no less lacked; but let us see to it that we do not lose his iron sense of duty, his unbending, unflinching will to do the right.” -- Theodore Roosevelt, Aug 5th 1907

Though the divide is no longer particularly between East & West, I think these words are very prescient today.