Inequality Quotes

A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little.

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.

An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.

I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.

God, how patient are Thy poor! These corporations and masters of manipulation in finance heaping up great fortunes by a system of legalized extortion, and then exacting from the contributors-to whom a little means so much-a double share to guard the treasure!

It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.

I know that there are no limits to which the powers of privilege will not go to keep the workers in slavery

The major economic policy challenges facing the nation today - pick your favorites among the usual suspects of low public and household savings, concerns about educational quality and achievement, high and rising income inequality, the large imbalances between our social insurance commitments and resources - are not about monetary policy.

Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.

You can't solve a problem as complex as inequality in one legal clause.

The coming change can only come through a revolution, because the possessing class will not allow a peaceful change to take place; still we are willing to work for peace at any price, except at the price of liberty.

Rising inequality isn’t about who has the knowledge; it’s about who has the power.

When fewer workers have unions, the standard of living falls for everyone and the gap between the rich and poor grows.

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

If we save the planet and have a society of inequality, we wouldn't have saved much.

What good does it do to sit at the counter when you cannot afford a hamburger?

If you're just the person with power, exercising that power fearfully and angrily, you're going to be an operative of injustice and inequality.

Health inequalities and the social determinants of health are not a footnote to the determinants of health. They are the main issue.

American inequality didn't just happen. It was created.

Marriage ... is still the imperfect institution it must remain while women continue to be ill-educated, passive, and subservient.

Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that creates huge inequalities.

When inequality gets to an extreme, it is completely useless for growth.

Gender inequality is not one problem, it's a collection of problems.

The present age handed over the workers, each alone and defenseless, to the unbridled greed of competitors... so that a very few and exceedingly rich men have laid a yoke of almost slavery on the unnumbered masses of non-owning workers.

If we will not endure a king as a political power, we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life.