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.
Extending the concept of duty from individuals to nations, Roosevelt argues that a nation's domestic focus does not excuse it from global responsibilities, lest it lose its influence.
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I care for the great deeds of the past chiefly as spurs to drive us onward in the present.
Every special interest is entitled to justice—full, fair, and complete—and, now, mind you, if there were any attempt by mob-violence to plunder and work harm to the special interest, whatever it may be, that I most dislike, and the wealthy…
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