Daily Inspiration Quote by Roy L. Smith

Responsibility is framed here less as a moral accessory than as the yardstick by which masculinity gets certified. Roy L. Smith, a clergyman writing in the early 20th century, is preaching in the key of character formation: the “measure” of a person isn’t charm, talent, or even stated belief, but the unglamorous willingness to own outcomes. The line works because it’s deceptively plain. No theology, no ornate ethics, just a hard, social test you can’t talk your way around.

The specific intent is disciplinary and aspirational at once. Smith is addressing a culture anxious about backbone - the era of war memory, industrial discipline, and public campaigns for “manly” virtue. In that climate, accepting responsibility means resisting the temptation to blame modern life, other people, or bad luck. It’s also a pastor’s way of translating spiritual maturity into everyday behavior: confession without excuses, duty without performance.

The subtext carries two sharper edges. First, it treats responsibility as a choice, not a circumstance: you “accept” it, implying that many refuse it. Second, it smuggles in a gendered norm (“the man”) that reflects its time: moral adulthood is imagined as masculine, public, and stoic. Read now, the line still bites, but it also reveals its blind spot. It can dignify accountability, or it can become a cudgel used to shame vulnerability and complexity. That tension is exactly why it endures.