on one's shoulders

Idioms  

1. As one's responsibility, as in The king carries his entire country on his shoulders, or The success of the conference rests on Nancy's shoulders. This metaphoric use of shoulders as the burden-bearing part of the body dates from the late 1300s.

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Example Sentences

That was the curse of dreaming: One woke to pallid reality, with neither wings on one’s shoulders nor goddess in one’s arms.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

One should bear one's foe on one's shoulders as long as time is unfavourable.

From The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 by Ganguli, Kisari Mohan

It was made in the form of a cloak, and could be carried quite easily on one’s shoulders.

From Man on the Ocean A Book about Boats and Ships by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)

One's days are too brief to take the burden of another's sorrows on one's shoulders.

From Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man by Wilde, Oscar

"Possibly," Vuillet resumed; "but the best of causes at the present time is to keep one's head on one's shoulders."

From The Fortune of the Rougons by Vizetelly, Ernest Alfred