Burgess Owens Quotes

I'm just becoming more and more aware of this truly profound responsibility that we carry as individuals. And it's a responsibility not only to ourselves and to our families, but to the billions of people who still have to come in the future who will be dealing with our legacy.

Members of the rising new generation! The future is yours. The republic has been founded by us. It is up to you to guard and exalt it.

Every night at dinner, my father would say something about the greatness of the United States - and tell us to make sure the government is there for the next people who come along and need it.

Are we being good ancestors?

We are enmeshed in a lineage that came from somewhere and is going to make way for the next generation.

A civilization is built on what is required of men, not on that which is provided for them.

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Your ability as republican volunteers, to rise to this challenge will mean that the two governments and others cannot easily hide from their obligations and their responsibility to resolve these problems.

I think that has to do with my awareness that in a sense we all have a certain measure of responsibility to those who have made it possible for us to take advantage of the opportunities.

We must strive to become good ancestors.

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.

I didn't volunteer; they asked me. I felt a duty to testify.

The European model is in danger if we obliterate the principle of personal responsibility.

It is up to us to live up to the legacy that was left for us, and to leave a legacy that is worthy of our children and of future generations.

You don't ever earn a right to stop doing anything if you feel there is an obligation to move in terms of public service.

Posterity is the world to come; the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibility. We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.

We live in a prosperous country. And our prosperity is not only a blessing—it’s also an obligation.

Who can protest and does not, is an accomplice in the act.

Obedience to the law is itself a moral duty.

The more the power of men and women increases, the greater is their responsibility as individuals and as members of the community.

If you accept the privilege of public service, you had better understand the responsibilities of public service.

The mantle of the pioneers has fallen on our shoulders.

I beseech you to live not only for this age, but for the next also.

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