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Who really said it

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are

Not Theodore Roosevelt — quoted from Squire Bill Widener Squire Bill Widener Farmer of Widener's Valley, Virginia; life dates unknown · quoted by Roosevelt in 1913
Disputed Free to reuse

Roosevelt did write these words — but in his 1913 Autobiography he explicitly credited them to Squire Bill Widener of Widener’s Valley, Virginia, and his recorded wording was ‘with what you’ve got,’ not ‘with what you have.’ The popular version drops both the true source and the original phrasing.

Last verified 7 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” Squire Bill Widener, quoted in Theodore Roosevelt's "An Autobiography" (1913): "Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are." — often misattributed to Roosevelt himself.

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In context

Evoking the world of Squire Bill Widener — farmer, Widener's Valley, Virginia. Theme: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Roosevelt’s Autobiography — crediting Squire Bill Widener

Work
Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography
Location
Ch. IX, “Outdoors and Indoors” (pp. 364–365)
Published
The Macmillan Company, 1913; serialized in The Outlook, Oct 1913
Credited by TR to
Squire Bill Widener, Widener’s Valley, Virginia

There is a bit of homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener, of Widener’s Valley, Virginia, which sums up one’s duty in life: ‘Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.’ ↑ Roosevelt names the true source in the same sentence — and writes ‘you’ve got,’ not ‘you have’

The widely shared version silently strips the attribution to Widener and smooths “you’ve got” into “you have,” leaving a line that reads as Roosevelt’s own maxim.

Full text of the Autobiography
Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography (Project Gutenberg)
Read Ch. IX in full at Standard Ebooks

How the credit gets stripped

Public domain

The 1913 text is public domain in the U.S. The saying itself is credited by Roosevelt to Squire Bill Widener, of whom almost nothing is documented beyond Roosevelt’s mention.

Fact-check

How Roosevelt got the credit

Roosevelt is the reason the line survives — but he never claimed it. He set it down as a saying he was quoting, and named the man he heard it from in the very same sentence.

Theodore Roosevelt

The line does appear in Roosevelt’s 1913 Autobiography, but he frames it as “homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener” — not his own words. The TR Presidential Library lists the popular Roosevelt attribution among its misquotes.

Arthur Ashe (“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can”) variant

A closely related motivational rewording — “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can” — circulates under Arthur Ashe’s name; it is a separate later phrasing, not Roosevelt’s or Widener’s original.

The words are Squire Bill Widener’s; Roosevelt was the messenger who wrote them down and, unintentionally, lent them his name — see the Theodore Roosevelt Center.

Context

A saying that outran its source

The phrase is one of the most-shared “Roosevelt” quotes on the internet, printed on posters, mugs, and graduation cards. Its appeal is its plainness: make do, start now, don’t wait for better circumstances.

That plainness is exactly why it drifted. Roosevelt presented it as folk wisdom — and folk wisdom, once attached to a famous name, tends to stay there.

Roosevelt wrote it down; Widener said it first.

On the wording change

Roosevelt’s recorded text reads “with what you’ve got.” The dominant modern version substitutes “with what you have,” a small smoothing that, together with the dropped attribution, converts a quoted rustic saying into a presidential aphorism.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Work Simplicity Resilience

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: Do What You Can, With What You've Got, Where You Arequoteinvestigator.com

Detailed tracing to Roosevelt’s 1913 Autobiography and his credit to Squire Bill Widener, plus related variants.
Do what you can, with what you've got, where you aretheodorerooseveltcenter.org

Dickinson State’s TR Center confirms Roosevelt credits the line to Widener in Ch. IX.
Did TR Really Say That?trlibrary.com

The TR Presidential Library flags the popular version as a misquote in both source and wording.
An Autobiography — IX: Outdoors and Indoorsstandardebooks.org

Clean public-domain primary text containing the exact Widener sentence.
Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography (full text)gutenberg.org

Project Gutenberg edition of the complete 1913 Autobiography.

The man Roosevelt actually credited

About Squire Bill Widener

Squire Bill Widener

fl. early 1900s · farmer, Widener's Valley, Virginia

Squire Bill Widener was a farmer of Widener’s Valley in southwestern Virginia, otherwise unrecorded by history. He owes his one line of fame to Theodore Roosevelt, who in his 1913 Autobiography quoted Widener’s “homely philosophy” — “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are” — as a summary of one’s duty in life. Because Roosevelt was famous and Widener was not, the saying was gradually re-credited to the President, erasing the man who supplied it.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1913), ch. IX, “Outdoors and Indoors,” 337–365, quoting Squire Bill Widener of Widener’s Valley, Virginia.

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are’?” Last verified 7 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/do-what-you-can-with-what-you-have-where-you-are

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