William J. H. Boetcker Quotes

We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.

But we must create in each person a sense of responsibility in order that each one of us can have the right to enjoy all his rights.

The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more.

A decent society is not based on rights. It is based on duty. Our duty to one another. To all should be given opportunity; from all responsibility demanded.

Freedom requires civil responsibility.

From the first moment of life, men ought to begin learning to deserve to live; and, as at the instant of birth we partake of the rights of citizenship, that instant ought to be the beginning of the exercise of our duty.

We need to restore the full meaning of that old word, duty. It is the other side of rights.

Americans believe that if you know something, you should do something about it.

I believe in trying to get a balance between individual freedom on the one hand and social responsibility on the other.

No Georgian has the right to evade or neglect his duties and responsibilities.

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.

Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country.

The story of America is the story of an ever widening circle of human care and responsibility.

The more freedom we enjoy, the greater the responsibility we bear, toward others as well as ourselves. The more talents we possess, the bigger the responsibility we have to develop them to their fullest capacity.

Rights! There are no rights whatever without corresponding duties.

I am determined to be a first class citizen.

Responsible citizenship comes from direct participation in the conduct of the government, and imposes equal responsibility upon every citizen. If we could quicken and increase appreciation of this responsibility, and every citizen were made to feel its weight and importance, it would go far toward improving our political and national life.

To a reluctant admission of the necessity for State action, we join a burning belief in duty.

The object of Socialism is not to render the individual capable of living on his personal resources. That is the theory of radical individualism. Its object is to create in him a greater and greater sense of his dependence upon the state, and, at the same time, to inculcate in him the conviction that he is a part of it and that he has a duty and responsibility toward the state; and that only in so far as he fulfills this duty can he benefit by the advantages of a complete personal and social life.

Duty, recognizing an individual's subordination to community welfare, is as important as rights ...

... the even more fundamental task that lies before the leader of a democracy is to bring to the people the realization that true democracy is the effort of the people individually to carry their share of the burden of government.

If you love your country you’ll find ways somehow to speak out to do what you think is right.

Our definition of patriotism is often too narrow. Shall the lover of his country measure his loyalty only by his service as a soldier? No! Patriotism calls for the faithful and conscientious performance of all of the duties of citizenship, in small matters as well as great, at home as well as upon the tented field

In giving rights to others which belong to them, we give rights to ourselves and to our country