We, too, born to freedom, and believing in freedom, are willing to fight to maintain freedom. We, and all others who believe as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.

The quotation frames freedom not as an abstract ideal but as a lived inheritance (“born to freedom”) that imposes obligations. It asserts that a society committed to liberty must be prepared to defend it, even at the cost of life, rejecting submission as a form of moral death (“live on our knees”). The rhetoric draws a sharp contrast between dignity and capitulation, aiming to stiffen resolve in a moment of perceived threat. In Roosevelt’s public language, such formulations typically function to unify listeners around democratic values and to justify sacrifice as necessary to preserve political independence and human self-respect.