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Social Reform Quotes

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Social Reform Quotes

“Gather some food and go out into the streets and into the remote villages to educate the ill-educated and the illiterate - first feed their stomach, then their soul - the purpose is not to make scholars out of them, but simply to open their eyes to the possibilities of the new world - the purpose is to help them become self-reliant.”

HelpingEducationSocial ResponsibilitySelf RelianceSocial WorkSocial DevelopmentSocial ReformIlliteracySocial ReformationEducating
Book:Martyr Meets World: To Solve The Hard Problem of Inhumanity
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“Love, for Gandhi, was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking for so many months. The intellectual and moral satisfaction that I failed to gain from the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill, the revolutionary methods of Marx and Lenin, the social-contracts theory of Hobbes, the “back to nature” optimism of Rousseau, the superman philosophy of Nietzsche, I found in the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi. I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.”

LoveJusticeFreedomActivismNonviolenceSocial ReformGandhiNonviolent ResistanceOrganizing
Book:Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
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“In the beginning I wrote ceaselessly on religion, but as I kept studying the tenets of the society, I came to realize that the barriers amongst people have invaded every aspect of life and society, much beyond the mere traditional bounds of religion - they have invaded the very lifeblood of society and have been tearing the society apart from inside out. I came to realize that the religion of the future is not going to be christianity, islam, judaism or any such traditional system, rather, the religion of the future is going to be social justice. And the best way to shape the future is to envision it early on and start manufacturing it today. Thus, though initially the primary premise of my work was religion, eventually it acquired much wider and diverse societal roots. My purpose remains the same, that is, to unite you all, to unite my seven billion sisters and brothers of earth, but I had to make a few changes to my approach based on the need of the time as I kept evolving with my work. I started off as a scientist, but the needs of the society turned me into a reformer.”

Social JusticeHuman RightsHumanismHumanitarianActivismReformerSocial StudiesSocial ReformHumanitarian Crisis
Book:I Vicdansaadet Speaking: No Rest Till The World is Lifted
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“You know what a hero is - 9 out of 10 times it's someone who's too tired or too hungry or too cold to give a damn - I don't give a damn - I don't give a damn about the consequences, all I know is, the society that has been handed over to us by our ancestors can't possibly be a human society, it's a society of good-looking savages - and I won't sit still on my couch whining about it like a spineless bug either - it's my society, and I'll either turn it into a human one, or perish in the attempt.”

LeadershipInspiringHeroActivismHeroismSocial ResponsibilitySocial DevelopmentSocial ReformNation BuildingNation Builder
Book:Martyr Meets World: To Solve The Hard Problem of Inhumanity
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“If you want civilization, be the epitome of civilization - if you want democracy, be the epitome of democracy - if you want humanity, be the epitome of humanity. Go on saying - "I am civilization, I am democracy, I am humanity".”

HumanityDemocracyCivilizationBrainy QuotesHumanismActivismSocial ResponsibilitySocial DevelopmentSocial Reform
Book:Martyr Meets World: To Solve The Hard Problem of Inhumanity
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“The world doesn't need more meditation on slogans and mantras and imaginary entities - what the world needs is meditation on justice - it needs meditation on equality - it needs meditation on inclusion. Only with such meditation can we make sure that serenity, sanity and sanctity pervade inside of us and all around us.”

ReasonJusticeMeditationRevolutionSocial JusticeActivismInclusionWorld PeaceSocial ReformFreethought
Book:Boldly Comes Justice: Sentient Not Silent
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“You know who you are - you are the heroes of Naskar - you are the knights of Naskar - you have no relation with segregation - you have no attachment to bigotry - you have no allegiance to any ideology - the only allegiance that you have is not to me, not to any scripture, not to any school of thought, but to the humankind and humankind alone. You are neither believers, nor nonbelievers, you are neither left, nor right, you are neither intellectual, nor ignorant, you are the whole human beings that the world so desperately needs - you are my order of new humans - humans beyond borders, humans beyond scriptures, humans beyond applause and mockery, beyond wealth and status, beyond anonymity and popularity.”

HumanismHumanitarianActivismService Of HumanityHumanistHumanitarianismServing PeopleReformerSocial ReformReformers
Book:Boldly Comes Justice: Sentient Not Silent
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“Sonnet of Social Justice Get ready to fight, Not with hate but accountability. Get ready to fight, Not with vengeance but humanity. Get ready to speak, Not as a cynic but as a sapiens. Get ready to speak, Crossing all egotistical grievance. Get ready to stand, Trampling all petty separation. Get ready to stand, Not in rebellion but in inclusion. When it is too dark around, Look inside for you're the light all round.”

JusticeRacismSocial JusticeHumanismActivismDiscriminationAccountabilityInclusionSonnetSocial Reform
Book:Sleepless for Society
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“My temperament and habit had always kept me rather in the middle of the road; in politics as well as in social reform I had been for "the best possible." But now I was pushed far toward the left on the subject of the war and I became gradually convinced that in order to make the position of the pacifist clear it was perhaps necessary that at least a small number of us should be forced into an unequivocal position.”

ShouldWellsWarOrderLeftSocialNumbersClearMiddleSubjectsPositionHabitConvincedReformTemperamentSocial ReformPacifistSmall NumbersMiddle Of The RoadUnequivocal
Book:The Jane Addams Reader
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“Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation.”

WorldWillingReformWomens RightsEarnestCastingCautiousBeing A WomanSocial ReformSuffrageEmpowered WomenWomen Empowering WomenEstimationBe CautiousWomen RightsWomen EqualityWomen In HistoryI Am WomanWomen RightWoman SuffrageWomen LeadershipWomen's SuffrageBetter Woman
Book:Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words
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“A people living under the perpetual menace of war and invasion is very easy to govern. It demands no social reform. It does not haggle over expenditures for armaments and military equipment. It pays without discussion, it ruins itself, and that is an excellent thing for the syndicates of financiers and manufacturers for whom patriotic terrors are an abundant source of gain.”

PeopleDoeWarPoliticsSocialEasyPayMilitarySourceDemandGainsTerrorRuinsReformExcellentDiscussionPatrioticPerpetualEquipmentInvasionMenaceSocial ReformExpendituresArmamentFinanciersSyndicateMilitary Equipment
Author:Anatole France
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“On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility. We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life. In the East, it is destroyed by the dealings and machinations of the ruling party. In the West, commercial interests tend to suffocate it. This is the real crisis.”

WayRealSpiritualPoliticalUsedPassionLostSocialInterestPartyToo MuchAtheismConceptsCrisisWestAtheistPossessionEastSupremeDestroyedReformSpiritual LifeEntityRulingDeprivedRenaissanceSocial ReformDealingsIrresponsibilityPrecious Possessions
Author:Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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“On the one hand, we have the mass; on the other, its historic goal, located outside of existing society. On one hand, we have the day-to-day struggle; on the other, the social revolution. It follows that this movement can best advance by tacking betwixt and between the two dangers by which it is constantly being threatened. One is the loss of its mass character; the other, the abandonment of its goal. One is the danger of sinking back to the condition of a sect; the other, the danger of becoming a movement of bourgeois social reform.”

TwoCharacterHandsSocialGoalLossStruggleConditionsDangerMovementRevolutionBecomingMassReformSocialistDay To DayHistoricAbandonmentBourgeoisSinkingSectsSocial Reform
Author:Rosa Luxemburg
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