Inequality Quotes - Page 11

• That's part of American greatness, is discrimination. Yes, sir. Inequality, I think, breeds freedom and gives a man opportunity.

  Lester Maddox

  Freedom, Opportunity, Greatness

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• It is my belief that in our mad world where there is so much pain, rivalry, hatred, violence, inequality, and oppression, it is people who are weak, rejected, marginalized, counted as useless, who can become a source of life and of salvation for us as individuals as well as for our world. And it is my hope that each one of you may experience the incredible gift of the friendship of people who are poor and weak, that you too, may receive life from them. For they call us to love, to communion, to compassion and to community.

  Jean Vanier

  Pain, Compassion, Our World

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• In a world of increasing inequality, the legitimacy of institutions that give precedence to the property rights of 'the Haves' over the human rights of 'the Have Nots' is inevitably called into serious question.

  David Korten

  Rights, Giving, World

  David C. Korten (2011). “Globalizing Civil Society: Reclaiming Our Right to Power”, p.23, Seven Stories Press

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• I find it ironic that Republicans have such disdain for the lazy, and yet their solution to every problem is do nothing. Their answer to wealth inequality, do nothing. Health care? Do nothing. Climate change? Nothing. Racism? Doesn’t exist. For a group of people so head over heels in love with self-reliance, they sure do recommend a lot of sitting on their ass.

  Bill Maher

  Self, Racism, People

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• Because Katrina put it out there, no one can play the pretend game anymore that there isn't poverty and inequality in this country. The Millions More Movement - Katrina gives it added significance.

  Marc Morial

  Country, Games, Play

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• In a world where inequality of ability is inevitable, anarchists do not sanction any attempt to produce equality by artificial or authoritarian means. The only equality they posit and will strive their utmost to defend is the equality of opportunity. This necessitates the maximum amount of freedom for each individual. This will not necessarily result in equality of incomes or wealth but will result in returns proportionate to service rendered.

  Laurance Labadie

  Mean, Opportunity, Income

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• If there is inequality in nature, still there must be equal chance for all - or if greater for some and for some less - the weaker should be given more chance than the strong. In other words, a Brahmin is not so much in need of education as a Chandala. If the son of a Brahmin needs one teacher, that of a Chandala needs ten. For greater help must be given to him whom nature has not endowed with an acute intellect from birth. It is a madman who carries coals to Newcastle. The poor, the downtrodden, the ignorant, let these be your God.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Teacher, Strong, Son

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.2840, Manonmani Publishers

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• As I often say, we have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2014, discrimination and inequality still saturate our society in modern ways. Though racism may be less blatant now in many cases, its existence is undeniable.

  Al Sharpton

  Long, Racism, Slavery

  "Racism & Bias — Can We Pause and Be Honest with Ourselves?" by Al Sharpton, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 27, 2014.

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• Americans have known about mounting inequality and king-sized Wall Street bonuses for years. But we also had an entire genre of journalism dedicated to brushing the problem off.

  Thomas Frank

  Kings, Wall, Years

  "Wall Street Bonuses Are an Outrage" by Thomas Frank, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 7, 2009.

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• I think it has other roots, has to do, in part, with a general anxiety in contemporary life... nuclear bombs, inequality of possibility and chance, inequality of goods allotted to us, a kind of general racist, unjust attitude that is pervasive.

  Leonard Baskin

  Attitude, Thinking, Roots

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• Destroy it. There may be a redistribution of the land, but the natural inequality of men soon re-creates an inequality of possessions and privileges, and raises to power a new minority with essentially the same instincts as the old.

  Will Durant

  Men, Land, May

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (1968). “The Lessons of History”

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• Passion for equality blinds the utopian to the fact that society, as a whole, is based on inequality of men in two respects: the inventor, the innovator, the exceptional man creates something new and insures continuous progress; the others emulate his work or merely improve their own lot by benefiting from his creativity.

  Thomas Steven Molnar

  Passion, Creativity, Men

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• I think Republicans need to take income inequality more seriously. Not because I favor equality of outcomes. I do not. I think the Right is correct to stress merit and earned rewards, not handouts and forced equality. But I think what Republicans are blind to is that power corrupts.

  Jonathan Haidt

  Stress, Thinking, Income

  "Interview: Jonathan Haidt on Social Conservatives, New Atheists and Civility in Politics". Interview with Napp Nazworth, www.christianpost.com. May 15, 2012.

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• The doctrine of equality! ... But there is no more venomous poison in existence: for it appears to be preached by justice itself, when it is actually the end of justice ... "Equality to the equal; inequality to the unequal" that would be true justice speaking: and its corollary, "never make the unequal equal".

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Justice Equality, Doctrine, Would Be

  Friedrich Nietzsche (1998). “Twilight of the Idols”, OUP Oxford

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• By defining the problem as 'hunger', the emergency food system is helping to direct our attention away from the more fundamental problem of poverty, and the even more basic problem of inequality.

  Janet Poppendieck

  Attention, Fundamentals, Emergencies

  Janet Poppendieck (1999). “Sweet Charity?: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement”, p.305, Penguin

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• An inequality of property is the root and foundation of innumerable evils; it tends to derision, and to keep asunder the social feelings that should exist among the people of God. It is a principle originated in hell; it is the root of all evils. It is inequality in riches that is a great curse.

  Orson Pratt

  Roots, People, Evil

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• You have to be invited to the party. You have to be invited to work, which is weird. That can be frustrating. But gender inequality is pretty similar through almost every industry, unfortunately.

  Daryl Hannah

  Party, Gender, Frustrating

  "SENSE8: Daryl Hannah Reflects on Performing in the Wachowskis’ Latest Project". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. June 10, 2015.

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• The Procrustean bed is not a symbol of equality. It is no less inequality to have equality among unequals.

  Felix Frankfurter

  Bed, Symbols

  "New York v. United States, 331 U.S. 284". U.S. Supreme Court case, supreme.justia.com. May 12, 1947.

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• Inequality can have a bad downside, but equality, for its part, sure does get in the way of coordination.

  Mary Douglas

  Equality, Doe, Way

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• The term 'income inequality' is a bit misleading because it suggests in a somewhat pejorative way that the rich are getting richer at the expense of the poor.

  Edward Lazear

  Income, Way, Rich

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• The Unheavenly Chorus is the definitive study of participatory inequality in America. Marshaling prodigious evidence, the authors show how money not only buys influence directly but also affects associations that are supposed to be democratic antidotes to concentrated wealth. A monumental achievement of careful scholarship, this book offers real knowledge of how politics actually operates.

  Robert Kuttner

  Real, Book, America

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• In a really equal democracy, every or any section would be represented, not disproportionately, but proportionately. ... Unless they are, there is not equal government, but a government of inequality and privilege: one part of the people rule over the rest: there is a part whose fair and equal share of influence in the representation is withheld from them, contrary to all just government, but, above all, contrary to the principle of democracy, which professes equality as its very root and foundation.

  John Stuart Mill

  Roots, Government, People

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• Solving the population problem is not going to solve the problems of racism, of sexism, of religious intolerance, of war, of gross economic inequality. But if you don't solve the population problem, you're not going to solve any of those problems. Whatever problem you're interested in, you're not going to solve it unless you also solve the population problem. Whatever your cause, it's a lost cause without population control.

  Paul R. Ehrlich

  Religious, War, Population Problem

  "Paul Ehrlich and the Population Bomb". PBS video produced by David Suzuki,

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• We must recover the whole sense of gift, of gratuitousness, of solidarity. Rampant capitalism has taught the logic of profit at all costs, of giving to get, of exploitation without looking at the person... and we see the results in the crisis we are experiencing! This Home is a place that teaches charity, a "school" of charity, which instructs me to go encounter every person, not for profit, but for love.

  Pope Francis

  Home, School, Giving

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• When I was poor and I complained about inequality they said I was bitter. Now I'm rich and I complain about inequality they say I'm a hypocrite. I'm starting to think they just don't want to talk about inequality.

  Russell Brand

  Hypocrite, Thinking, Complaining

  Russell Brand (2014). “Revolution”, p.101, Ballantine Books

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