"We must see that there is civic honesty, civic cleanliness, civic good sense in our home administration of city, State, and nation. We must strive for honesty in office, for honesty toward the creditors of the nation and of the individual; for the widest freedom of individual initiative where possible, and for the wisest control of individual initiative where it is hostile to the welfare of the many. But because we set our own household in order we are not thereby excused from playing our part in the great affairs of the world. A man's first duty is to his own home, but he is not thereby excused from doing his duty to the State; for if he fails in this second duty it is under the penalty of ceasing to be a freeman. In the same way, while a nation's first duty is within its own borders, it is not thereby absolved from facing its duties in the world as a whole; and if it refuses to do so, it merely forfeits its right to struggle for a place among the peoples that shape the destiny of mankind."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Activists from the United StatesMilitary leaders from the United StatesSocial activistsMedal of Honor recipientsNobel laureates from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Theodore Roosevelt
1858 – 1919
26. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (1901-1909)
420 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Theodore Roosevelt →
Related Quotes
"We meet to-day, representing the people of this continent, from the Dominion of Canada in the north, to Chile and the…"
"We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less…"
"By sheer force of moral purpose, by clarity of perception, by mastery of detail and benign manipulation of men, he ha…"
"What is the lesson to us to-day? Are we to go the way of the older civilizations? The immense increase in the area of…"
"In many respects there is a complete lack of analogy between the civilization of to-day and the only other civilizati…"
"Hitherto every civilization that has arisen has been able to develop only a comparatively few activities; that is, it…"
"The whole world is bound together as never before; the bonds are sometimes those of hatred rather than love, but they…"
"In new and wild communities where there is violence, an honest man must protect himself; and until other means of sec…"
"Throughout their early stages the movements of civilization—for, properly speaking, there was no one movement—were ve…"
"The people of the United States suffer from periodical financial panics to a degree substantially unknown to the othe…"