"When shall we learn that we are related one to the other, that we are members of one body....  Until the spirit of love for our fellow-workers, regardless of race, color, creed or sex, shall fill the world, until the great mass of the people shall be filled with a sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice cannot be attained, and there can never be lasting peace upon earth."
-- Helen Keller

QUOTATIONS & WORDS OF WISDOM



Critical Thinking & Objectivity


"We don't see the world the way it is, we see the world the way we are."

-- Unknown







The Love Ethic


"Love is the only satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence."

-- Erich Fromm, 1956.







Political Action Implied by, and Necessary for, Love Ethic


"...if we love our fellow humans, we cannot limit our insight and our love only to others as individuals...We have to be political people, I would even say passionately involved political people, each of us in the way that best suits our own temperaments, our working lives, and our own capabilities."

-- Erich Fromm, 1986



"...power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..







Fact, Nature, and Desirability of, the One Human Family


"When shall we learn that we are related one to the other, that we are members of one body.... Until the spirit of love for our fellow-workers, regardless of race, color, creed or sex, shall fill the world, until the great mass of the people shall be filled with a sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice cannot be attained, and there can never be lasting peace upon earth."

-- Helen Keller







People's Right to Revolution, or Change in Government


"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to alter their constitutions of government."

-- George Washington, 1796, 1st President of the United States



"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better."

-- Abraham Lincoln, former President of the United States



"A revolution of government is the strongest proof that can be given by a people of their virtue and good sense."

-- John Adams, 1786







Concentration of Wealth must Trigger Social Change


"And when that day comes when the wealth of the nation will be in the hands of a few, then we must rely upon the wisdom of the best elements in the country to readjust the laws of the nation to the changed conditions."

-- James Madison







The Real Powerholders in Capitalist Society


"This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer.  It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations."

-- Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President


"The masters of the government of the United States are the combined capitalists and manufacturers of the United States."

-- Woodrow Wilson, U.S. President


"Money, not morality, constitutes the principle of commercial nations."

-- Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, Vice-President, and Founding Father


"We must crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to bid defiance to the laws of our country."

--Thomas Jefferson, 1812


Shortly before his death, Abraham Lincoln warned that "corporations have been enthroned . . . . An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people . . . until wealth is aggregated in a few hands . . . and the republic is destroyed."

Note:  I have not yet independently confirmed this last quotation.







Slavery, the Slavemaster(s), and an Escape therefrom, as Articulated in Popular Culture


"Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it?  That's what it means to be a slave."

-- Roy Batty, character from the film Blade Runner.


"...I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries, a world where anything is possible."

-- Neo, "The One," character from the film The Matrix.







Rightness and Naturalness of Cooperative Sharing of Resources


"God has ordered all things to be produced so that there should be food in common for all, and that the Earth should be the common possession of all. Nature, therefore, has produced a common right for all, but greed has made it a right for a few."

-- St. Ambrose, 4th Century



"There is enough in the world for everyone's need; there is not enough for everyone's greed."

-- Mohandas ("Mahatma") Gandhi







Necessity for Building the Cooperative Society


[the] "...good and just society is neither the thesis of capitalism nor the antithesis of communism, but a socially conscious democracy which reconciles the truths of individualism and collectivism."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



"If we are going to achieve a real equality, the U.S. will have to adopt a modified form of Socialism."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1965



"You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry.... Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong... with capitalism.... There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., November 14, 1966. Speech in front of his staff.



"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from his Beyond Vietnam speech.



"The true task is to unite and organize all workers...and it is the workers themselves who must secure freedom for themselves...."

-- Helen Keller







Nature of the Cooperative Society and the Transition, Thereto


[the] "...good and just society is neither the thesis of capitalism nor the antithesis of communism, but a socially conscious democracy which reconciles the truths of individualism and collectivism."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



"If we are going to achieve a real equality, the U.S. will have to adopt a modified form of Socialism."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1965



"You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry.... Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong... with capitalism.... There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., November 14, 1966. Speech in front of his staff.



"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from his Beyond Vietnam speech.



"The true task is to unite and organize all workers...and it is the workers themselves who must secure freedom for themselves...."

-- Helen Keller







Realizing the Emperor Has No Clothes (i.e. the system is fatally unfair and we're exploited slaves, under it)


"You see, my friends...you begin to ask the questions, 'Who owns the oil?' You begin to ask the question, 'Who owns the iron ore?' You begin to ask the question, 'Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that is two-thirds water?'"

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.







Obsolescence & Impotence of Present System and its Representatives


"...the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are beholden to industry. They always will be. And, the American people are fooled when they think that if you can just get McGovern instead of Humphrey, or if you can get a Democrat instead of a Republican, this will be the end of our problems."

-- Dr. Benjamin Spock



"...this present system by which industry is motivated exclusively by the quest for maximal profits - though it may have helped a great deal to develop, to industrialize our country so rapidly and so successfully - now it's clearly passed its usefulness. It is keeping us from achieving the ideal society that we should have. We say industry must produce to improve the quality of life for all our people."

-- Dr. Benjamin Spock



"The Republicans are 90% corrupt, and the Democrats are 50% corrupt."

-- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., speaking on the environment, in an August 2004 radio interview, (an almost verbatim paraphrase). See the Environment section of our Issues & Resources page, for details.









Unwise Focus on Technological over Human Development


"Technical Utopias--flying, for example--have been achieved by the new science of nature.The human utopia...a united new humankind living in solidarity and peace, free from economic determination and from war and class struggle--can be achieved, provided we spend the same energy, intelligence, and enthusiasm on the realization of the human Utopia as we have spent on the realization of our technical Utopias."

-- Erich Fromm, To Have or To Be, 1976, pp.160-161



"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.







The Sense of Possibility


"Some men see the world as it is and say 'Why?'  I see the world as it could be and say, 'Why not?'"

-- Robert Kennedy, former Attorney General of the United States








Essential Role of Revolutionaries and Activists


"Whether...a change from the supremacy of natural science to a new social science will take place...depends on one factor: how many brilliant, learned, disciplined, and caring men and women are attracted by the new challenge...."

-- Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be, 1976, p.161



"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."

-- Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love




~ Advocating Economic & Personal Change ~
One Human Family