When men fear work or fear righteous war, when women fear motherhood, they tremble on the brink of doom; and well it is that they should vanish from the earth, where they are fit subjects for the scorn of all men and women who are themselves strong and brave and high-minded.
From his speech advocating for a vigorous national character, this passage asserts that societies that avoid effort and responsibility are doomed.
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More from Teddy Roosevelt
I care for the great deeds of the past chiefly as spurs to drive us onward in the present.
The fate of the leader for the time being is of little consequence, but the cause itself must in the end triumph, for its triumph is essential to the well-being of the American people.
A broken promise is bad enough in private life. It is worse in the field of politics.
We are bound in honor to strive to bring ever nearer the day when, as far as is humanly possible, we shall be able to realize the ideal that each man shall have an equal opportunity to show the stuff that is in him by the way in which he…
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