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Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger Quotes

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Famous Margaret Sanger Quotes

“The most successful educational approach to the Negro is throgh a religious appeal. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the Minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

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Author:Margaret Sanger
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“We should not minimize the great outstanding service of Eugenics for critical and diagnostic investigations. It demonstrates ... that uncontrolled fertility is universally correlated with disease, poverty, overcrowding and the transmission of hereditable traits.”

ShouldPovertyDiseaseCriticalTraitsInvestigationOutstandingEugenicsTransmissionEuthanasiaFertilityOvercrowding
Book:The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic
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“We are paying for and even submitting to the dictates of an ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all-that the wealth of individuals and of state is being diverted from the development and the progress of human expression and civilization.”

ShouldHumansHas BeensStatesIndividualBornWealthHuman BeingsClassProgressExpressionDevelopmentCivilizationShould HaveShould Have BeenEugenicsEuthanasia
Book:The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic
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“Every single case of inherited defect, every malformed child, every congenitally tainted human being brought into this world is of infinite importance to that poor individual; but it is of scarcely less importance to the rest of us and to all of our children who must pay in one way or another for these biological and racial mistakes.”

WorldWayHumansChildrenIndividualHuman BeingsPoorPayMistakeCasesThis WorldImportanceInfiniteOur ChildrenOne WayDefectsEugenicsEuthanasiaTainted
Book:The Pivot of Civilization
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“By all means, there should be no children when either mother or father suffers from such diseases as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, cancer, epilepsy, insanity, drunkenness and mental disorders. In the case of the mother, heart disease, kidney trouble and pelvic deformities are also a serious bar to childbearing No more children should be born when the parents, though healthy themselves, find that their children are physically or mentally defective.”

ShouldHeartMeanChildrenMotherSufferingFatherParentBornCasesTroubleSeriousHealthyDiseaseCancerBarsInsanityDisorderDrunkennessKidneysDefectiveHeart DiseaseMental DisorderDeformityTuberculosisSyphilisEpilepsyChildbearingGonorrhea
Author:Margaret Sanger
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“The third group [of society] are those irresponsible and reckless ones having little regard for the consequences of their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers. Many of this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent upon the normal and fit members of society for their support. There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped.”

PeopleThinkingShouldMindLittlesReligiousNumbersSupportDoubtGroupsFitExerciseMembersElementsNormalConsequenceThirdsRegardNo DoubtDependentRecklessIrresponsibleDiseasedPlanned ParenthoodProcreationScruples
Author:Margaret Sanger
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“In passing, we should here recognize the difficulties presented by the idea of 'fit' and 'unfit.' Who is to decide this question? The grosser, the more obvious, the undeniably feeble-minded should, indeed, not only be discouraged but prevented from propagating their kind. But among the writings of the representative Eugenists [sic], one cannot ignore the distinct middle-class bias that prevails.”

ShouldWritingKindIdeasClassMiddleFitDifficultyObviousPassingPassingsMiddle ClassRepresentativesBiasDiscouragedPlanned Parenthood
Book:The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic
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“Hordes of people [are] born, who live, yet who have done absolutely nothing to advance the race one iota. Their lives are hopeless repetitions… Such human weeds clog up the path, drain up the energies and the resources of this little earth. We must clear the way for a better world; we must cultivate our garden.”

PeopleWorldWayHumansLittlesDoneEarthEnergyBornRacePathClearResourcesGardenHopelessWeedRepetitionDrainsAbsolutely NothingHorde
Author:Margaret Sanger
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“As an advocate of birth control I wish ... to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the 'unfit' and the 'fit,' admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization, can never be rectified by the inauguration of a cradle competition between these two classes. In this matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation.... On the contrary, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.”

ShouldTwoMatterProblemTodayWishClassPovertyExampleBirthFitCivilizationLimitsCompetitionRateContraryInferiorsUrgentDiscouragingCradleEugenicsMenaceBirth ControlFertilityDefectiveInaugurationPlanned ParenthoodEmulationBirth Rate
Author:Margaret Sanger
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“Birth Control is not contraception indiscriminately and thoughtlessly practiced. It means the release and cultivation of the better racial elements in our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extirpation of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”

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Author:Margaret Sanger
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“Birth Control which has been criticized as negative and destructive, is really the greatest and most truly eugenic method, and its adoption as part of the program of Eugenics would immediately give a concrete and realistic power to that science. . . as the most constructive and necessary of the means to racial health.”

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Book:The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic
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“The most serious charge that can be brought against modern benevolence is that it encourages the perpetuation of defectives, delinquents and dependents. These are the most dangerous elements in the world community, the most devastating curse on human progress and expression.”

WorldHumansCommunityProgressModernDangerousSeriousExpressionElementsCurseBenevolenceHuman ProgressDelinquents
Book:The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic
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