A powerful reminder of famous spoken words

“Much has been given to us, and much will rightfully be expected from us.  We have duties to others and duties to ourselves, and we can shirk neither.

We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth;  and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities.  Toward all other nations, large and small, our attitude must be one of cordial and sincere friendship.

We must show not only in our words but in our deeds that we are earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting toward them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of all their rights.

But justice and generosity in a nation, as in an individual, count most when shown not by weak but by the strong.  While ever careful to refrain from wronging others, we must be no less insistent that we are not wronged ourselves.

We wish peace; but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness.  We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid.  No weak nation can have cause to fear us, and no strong power should ever be able to single us out as a subject for insolent aggression.”

(excerpt of Inaugural Address of Theodore Roosevelt, March 4, 1905)