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Labor Quotes

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Labor Quotes

“So long as we have held fast to voluntary principles and have been actuated and inspired by the spirit of service, we have sustained our forward progress, and we have made our labor movement something to be respected and accorded a place in the councils of the Republic. Where we have blundered into trying to force a policy or decision, even though wise and right, we have impeded if not interrupted the realization of our own aims.”

IfsTryingLongHas BeensMadeSpiritForceDecisionPrinciplesWiseProgressPolicyMovementLaborAimInspiredRealizationRepublicCouncilInterruptedLabor MovementForward Progress
Book:The American Federationist
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“Anyway everyboy (sorry) knows that what women have done that is really important is not to constitute a great, cheap labor force that you can zip in when you're at war and zip out again afterwards but to Be Mothers, to form the coming generation, to give birth to them, to nurse them, to mop floors for them, to love them, cook for them, clean for them, change their diapers, pick up after them, and mainly sacrifice themselves for them. This is the most important job in the world. That's why they don't pay you for it.”

KnowsWorldGivingImportantWarDoneJobsFormMotherForcePayGenerationsSacrificeBirthPicksLaborCleanSorryCooksNurseDiapersImportant JobsZipsCheap LaborLabor Force
Author:Joanna Russ
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“In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal god, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself. This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an incomparably more worthy task.”

GivingHandsPastBeautifulHumanityForceDifficultStruggleTeacherSourceGiving UpCapableLaborTasksWorthyDoctrinePriestsEthicalScience And ReligionStatureGood TeacherPhilosophy Of ReligionCultivatingCreating Beauty
Book:Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words
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“Capitalism creates a huge community of producers who are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor, and an oligarchy that cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized society....the subjugation is not by force but because the privileged class has long ago established a system of values by which the people were thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social behavior.”

PeopleLongValuesForceSocialCommunityClassHugeBehaviorCapitalismLaborFruitStriveProducersOrganizedCollectivesLong AgoPrivilegedOligarchySubjugationSocial Behavior
Author:Albert Einstein
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“I once asked a distinguished artist what place he gave to labor in art. "Labor," he in effect said, "is the beginning, the middle, and the end of art." Turning then to another--"And you," I inquired, "what do you consider as the great force in art?" "Love," he replied. In their two answers I found but one truth.”

ArtSaidTwoEndsArtistFoundForceAnswersMiddleEffectsLaborDistinguishedArt Love
Book:Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
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“The liberation of women from exclusive domesticity did not originate in feminist books, or a war, or a big inflation, although they contributed to its progress. The rising enrollment of women in the paid labor force is a straightforward consequence of the industrial revolution of two hundred years ago.”

YearsTwoBookWarBigsForceProgressRevolutionHundredConsequenceYears AgoLaborPaidFeministLiberationRisingInflationExclusiveStraightforwardHouseworkIndustrial RevolutionDomesticityLabor ForceEnrollment
Author:Barbara Bergmann
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“I know that if the peace movement takes its message boldly to the Negro people a powerful force can be secured in pursuit of the greatest goal of all mankind. And the same is true of labor and the great democratic sections of our population.”

PeopleIfsKnowsForceGoalPowerfulMankindMovementMessagesLaborDemocraticPopulationPursuitSectionsSecured
Book:Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974
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“One finds fortunes built on slave labor, indentured labor, prison labor, immigrant labor, female labor, child labor, and scab labor - backed by the lethal force of gun thugs and militia. 'Old money' is often little more than dirty money laundered by several generations of possession.”

ChildrenLittlesPoliticalForceGenerationsGunBuiltFemaleLaborPrisonFortuneSlavePossessionDirtyImmigrantsThugMilitiaChild LaborOld MoneyScabsSlave LaborDirty Money
Author:Michael Parenti
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“Extended families have never been the norm in America; the highest figure for extended-family households ever recorded in Americanhistory is 20 percent. Contrary to the popular myth that industrialization destroyed "traditional" extended families, this high point occurred between 1850 and 1885, during the most intensive period of early industrialization. Many of these extended families, and most "producing" families of the time, depended on the labor of children; they were held together by dire necessity and sometimes by brute force.”

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Book:The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap
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“Because by definition they lack any sense of mutuality or wholeness, our specializations subsist on conflict with one another. The rule is never to cooperate, but rather to follow one's own interest as far as possible. Checks and balances are all applied externally, by opposition, never by self-restraint. Labor, management, the military, the government, etc., never forbear until their excesses arouse enough opposition to force them to do so.”

SelfEnoughGovernmentForceInterestMilitaryBalanceConflictLaborManagementEnvironmentalDefinitionsChecksOppositionEtcExcessSustainabilityWholenessRestraintSpecializationSelf Restraint
Author:Wendell Berry
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“I am not fighting machinery as such, but the madness of thinking that machinery saves labor. Men save labor until thousands of them are without work and die of hunger on the streets. I want to secure employment and livelihood not only to part of the human race, but for all. I will not have the enrichment of a few at the expense of the community. At present the machine is helping a small minority to live on the exploitation of the masses. The motive force of this minority is not humanity or love of their kind, but greed and avarice.”

ThinkingMenWantHumansKindHelpingHumanityDiesFightingForceCommunityRaceStreetsMassLaborMachinesMadnessEnvironmentalGreedHungerEmploymentSecureHuman RaceMotiveMinoritiesExpensesSustainabilityExploitationMachineryAvariceLivelihoodEnrichment
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“A pleasant natural environment is a good - a luxury good, philosophical good, a moral goody-good, a good time for all. Whatever, we want it. If we want something, we should pay for it, with our labor or our cash. We shouldn't beg it, steal it, sit around wishing for it, or euchre the government into taking it by force.”

IfsWantShouldGovernmentForceWishNaturalPayMoralEnvironmentLaborPhilosophicalStealingLuxuryPleasantGood TimesCashWant SomethingNatural Environment
Book:All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty
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“The right way is the greatest gratifier of human wishes ever come upon - when allowed to operate. It is as morally sound as the Golden Rule. It is the way of willing exchange, of common consent, of self-responsibility, of open opportunity. It respects the right of each to the product of his labor. It limits the police force to keeping the peace. It is the way of the free market, private property, limited government. On its banner is emblazoned Individual Liberty.”

WayHumansSelfGovernmentOpportunityIndividualForceWishSoundCommonResponsibilityLibertyWillingProductsLimitsLaborPolicePropertyGoldenConsentRight WayFree MarketPrivate PropertyLimited GovernmentGolden RuleBannerIndividual LibertyPolice ForceSelf Responsibility
Author:Leonard Read
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“Obama has had two raging successes in his term: He has slashed unemployment by persuading millions to give up hope and leave the labor force; and He has cut illegal immigration by casting the United States into a permanent job shortage. Some achievements!”

GivingTwoStatesJobsForceTermUnitedMillionsUnited StatesCuttingGiving UpAchievementLaborRageImmigrationPermanentIllegalUnemploymentCastingShortageIllegal ImmigrationPersuadingLabor Force
Author:Dick Morris
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“Through private investment capitalism kept raising the productivity of labor to new heights. Parents were able to earn enough so their offspring did not have to join the work force at an early age. This produced something unique in history: Childhood, a time when the young could experience the innocence of play and opportunity of schooling before entering the world of work.”

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Author:Richard Ebeling
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“You take a look at the history of African Americans in the US. There's been about thirty years of relative freedom. There was a decade after the Civil War and before north/south compact essentially recriminalized black life. During the Second World War there was a need for free labor so there was a freeing up of the labor force. Blacks benefitted from it.”

WorldNeedsYearsLooksWarForceBlackLaborSouthDecadesAfrican AmericanWar Of The WorldsThirtyCivil WarRelativeThirty YearsSecond World WarCompactBlack LivesLabor Force
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain - and since labor is pain in itself - it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it. When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor. It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.”

MenShouldDoeUseShowsPainLawPurposeForceHistoryConditionsDangerousMoralityEasierProtectLaborPropertyPainfulTendenciesCollectivesEvidentResortsPlunder
Author:Frederic Bastiat
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“The Fourteenth Amendment, after the civil war, in principle brought former slaves into the category of persons, theoretically. But if you actually look, almost all the cases brought up for personal rights under the Fourteenth Amendment were by corporations. Freed slaves couldn't do it. In fact they were pretty much driven back into something like slavery by a north - south compact, that allowed former slave states to criminalize black life, which made a criminal force that was basically used as a forced labor force, up until the 1930s.”

IfsLooksPersonsMadeWarStatesFactsUsedForceBlackPrinciplesCasesRightsLaborSlaverySlaveSouthDrivenCriminalsFormerCorporationsCivil WarCategoriesAmendments1930sCompactBlack LivesLabor ForcePersonal RightsFourteenth Amendment
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Look at Germany where 20 percent of the labor force is in manufacturing compared to about 8 percent in the United States. Germany pays a lot more conscious attention at the level of the federal government to attracting and keeping manufacturers in Germany. So this is something that other countries do that the United States has not historically done.”

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Author:Edward Alden
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“There could be an independent labor-based party, which might over time become an important force the way the Labor Party did in England. To all of these things there are plenty of barriers, in the culture and in the social and political institutions, the concentration of economic power. But these are not insuperable barriers, I think. They can be overcome. And it is urgent that this be done, because there are really incredible problems that are simply not being addressed.”

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Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force. Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount—and, if it is not, that worker is unlikely to be employed.”

IfsDoeRealGovernmentJobsLawGivenForceLosesPayFailingCreationAmountLaborWorkersProductivityIllegalZeroMinimumEmployedUnlikelyMinimum WageEscalationLabor Force
Author:Thomas Sowell
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“Skilled shortages in America exist because we are shielding our skilled labor force from world competition. [Visa quotas] have been substituted for the wage pricing mechanism. In the process we have created [a] privileged elite whose incomes are being supported at non-competitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of the income inequality.”

WorldHas BeensAmericaForceProcessLevelsLaborCompetitionImmigrationIncomeInequalityMechanismElitesPrivilegedRestrictionShortageHigh LevelEliminatingVisaIncome InequalityQuotaPricingLabor Force
Author:Alan Greenspan
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“Indeed, we need not look back half a century to times which many now living remember well, and see the wonderful advances in the sciences and arts which have been made within that period. Some of these have rendered the elements themselves subservient to the purposes of man, have harnessed them to the yoke of his labors and effected the great blessings of moderating his own, of accomplishing what was beyond his feeble force, and extending the comforts of life to a much enlarged circle, to those who had before known its necessaries only.”

MenLifeNeedsWellsLooksHas BeensArtMadeRememberSciencePurposeForceHalfKnownWonderfulCenturyPeriodsComfortBlessingElementsLaborCirclesArt And ScienceExtendingYokeSubservientHalf A Century
Book:Crusade Against Ignorance
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“To constrain the brute force of the people, the European governments deem it necessary to keep them down by hard labor, poverty and ignorance, and to take from them, as from bees, so much of their earnings, as that unremitting labor shall be necessary to obtain a sufficient surplus to sustain a scanty and miserable life.”

PeopleHardGovernmentPoliticsForcePovertyIgnoranceLaborMiserableSufficientBeesEarningBrutesSurplusBrute ForceConstrainMiserable Life
Book:Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson
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“So much were employers of wage-labor unenthusiastic about proletarianization that, in addition to fostering the gender age division of labor, they also encouraged, in their employment patters and through their influence in the political arena, recognition of defined ethnic groups, seeking to link them to specific allocated roles in the labor-force, with different levels of real remuneration for their work. Ethnicity created a cultural crust which consolidated the patterns of semi-proletarian household structures.”

DifferentRealAgePoliticalForceLevelsRolesGroupsInfluenceCapitalismLaborStructurePatternsSeekingGenderEmploymentDefinedRecognitionDivisionLinksHouseholdArenaEmployersEthnicityDifferent LevelsFosteringEthnic GroupsDivision Of LaborRemunerationLabor Force
Author:Immanuel Wallerstein
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“The conservative goal has been the Third Worldization of the United States: an increasingly underemployed, lower-wage work-force; a small but growing moneyed class that pays almost no taxes; the privatization or elimination of human services; the elimination of public education for low-income people; the easing of restrictions against child labor; the exporting of industries and jobs to low-wage, free-trade countries; the breaking of labor unions; and the elimination of occupational safety and environmental controls and regulations.”

PeopleHumansChildrenHas BeensCountryStatesJobsForceGoalUnitedPayClassUnited StatesGrowingPolicyIndustryTaxesLowsLaborThirdsSafetyTradeUnionsEnvironmentalConservativeIncomeForeign PolicyRegulationRestrictionEliminationFree TradePublic EducationLabor UnionLow IncomePrivatizationChild LaborExportingHuman ServiceUnderemployed
Author:Michael Parenti
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