Ezra Taft Benson Quotes

No people have risen who thought only of rights. Only those did so who thought of duties.

No one can be a good citizen unless he fulfills those domestic duties which are incumbent on his social station and unless he honors all his obligations to society.

I want people to think about everyone in their life, and their responsibilities to their friends, their families and their country.

With freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk has not ended yet.

Before I can embrace freedom, I should be aware of what duties I have.

It is the church's responsibility, the government's responsibility, and the personal responsibility of every one of us to love.

Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually.

Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: 'What are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved?'

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

This was the way I was brought up to think of politics, that politics was to do with ethics, it was to do with responsibility, it was to do with service, so I think I was conditioned to think like that, and I'm too old to change now.

It is time in the West to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.

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

Thus, neither my government nor myself, personally, are without ideals and responsibilities.

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

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

The right to private property is inconceivable without responsibilities to the common good.

The most dangerous aspect of contemporary life is the dissolution of the feeling of individual responsibility.

Our task is to be responsible for our speech, acts and political standpoint. These must be in conformity with the people's ideas and interests

Here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.

Property has its duties as well as its rights…. To the neglect of these duties in times past is mainly to be attributed to that diseased state of society in which such crimes can take their rise…. It is not in the enactment of statutes of extraordinary severity, but chiefly in the better and more faithful performance of those duties … that a permanent remedy … is to be sought.

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

Everyone has to have a sense of duty. A duty to society, to their family. I mean, you name it.

It's gotten to a point where everybody is concerned about their rights and nobody is concerned about their duties.