Wilful sterility is, from the standpoint of the nation, from the standpoint of the human race, the one sin for which the penalty is national death, race death; a sin for which there is no atonement.... No man, no woman, can shirk the primary duties of life, whether for love of ease and pleasure, or for any other cause, and retain his or her self-respect.
ATTRIBUTION:
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), U.S. Republican (later Progressive) politician, president. Sixth annual message to Congress, December 3, 1906.
