It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the roles and responsibilities of the President and Congress in the legislative process.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's quote highlights the distinct but complementary roles in the United States government, where the President has the responsibility to propose policies and initiatives, while Congress holds the authority to accept, reject, or modify those proposals. This reflects the balance of power inherent in the democratic system, underscoring the collaboration necessary between the executive and legislative branches to govern effectively.
In practice
In a speech about government accountability, one might reference this quote to illustrate the necessity of checks and balances.
There has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, that Americans have considerable industrial power - but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight. ... Let them tell that to the Marines!
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns.
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
A world turned into a stereotype, a society converted into a regiment, a life translated into a routine, make it difficult for either art or artists to survive. Crush individuality in society and you crush art as well. Nourish the conditions of a free life and you nourish the arts, too.
Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.
Leadership contains certain elements of good management, but it requires that you inspire, that you build durable trust. For an organization to be not just good but to win, leadership means evoking participation larger than the job description, commitment deeper than any job contract's wording.
A man must first govern himself ere he is fit to govern a family; and his family ere he be fit to bear the government of the commonwealth.
Leadership is not achieved by an individual. Leadership is bestowed by the group.
Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.
The perfection preached in the gospels never yet built an empire. Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness, and cunning.
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