Economic Justice Quotes

• A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Change, Uplifting, Spiritual

  Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

  115 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  Pope Francis

  Economic Inequality, Justice, People

  "The Joy of the Gospel: Evangelii Gaudium". Book by Pope Francis, w2.vatican.va. November 26, 2013.

  61 Copy quote

  Show source

• Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, . . . neither persons nor property will be safe.

  Frederick Douglass

  Ignorance, Justice, Black History

  Speech on the twenty-fourth anniversary of emancipation in the District of Columbia,Washington, D.C., Apr. 1886

  87 Copy quote

  Show source

• No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.

  Adam Smith

  Happiness, Equality, Society

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.33

  260 Copy quote

  Show source

• Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Change, Strong, Power

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.199, Beacon Press

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  Inspiring, Women, 4th Of July

  Declaration of Sentiments, First Woman's Rights

  139 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Wisdom, Country, Power

  138 Copy quote

• The struggle to create a nation and world of economic and social justice and environmental sanity is not an easy one. The struggle to try and create a more peaceful world will be extremely difficult. But this I know: despair is not an option if we care about our kids and grandchildren. Giving up is not an option if we want to prevent irreparable harm to our planet.

  Bernie Sanders

  Giving Up, Struggle, Kids

  FaceBook post by Bernie Sanders from May 14, 2015

  585 Copy quote

  Show source

• Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?

  Pope Francis

  Elderly, Order, Two

  Pope Francis (2014). “The Joy of the Gospel”, p.21, BookBaby

  33 Copy quote

  Show source

• Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

  Frederick Douglass

  Peace, Patriotic, Ignorance

  Speech on the twenty-fourth anniversary of emancipation in the District of Columbia,Washington, D.C., Apr. 1886

  301 Copy quote

  Show source

• Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Freedom, Integrity, Adversity

  The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness foreword (1944)

  145 Copy quote

  Show source

• We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

  Martin Luther

  Believe, Opportunity, Vaults

  11 Copy quote

• Power at its best is love implementing the demand of justice.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Power, Justice, Demand

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.200, Beacon Press

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• We educated, privileged lawyers have a professional and moral duty to represent the underrepresented in our society, to ensure that justice exists for all, both legal and economic justice.

  Sonia Sotomayor

  Justice, Our Society, Moral

  "Sonia Sotomayor: A Look at Obama's Supreme Court Pick" by Reynolds Holding, abcnews.go.com. May 26, 2009.

  29 Copy quote

  Show source

• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Change, Happiness

  Declaration of Independence (1776).

  191 Copy quote

  Show source

• But let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?

  Walter E. Williams

  Freedom, Justice, Society

  "All it takes is guts". Book by Walter E. Williams, 1987.

  175 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Life, Compassion

  Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

  34 Copy quote

  Show source

• Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.

  Pope Francis

  Powerful, Mean, Law

  Pope Francis (2014). “The Joy of the Gospel”, p.21, BookBaby

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion.

  Pope Francis

  Elderly, Two, Economic Inequality

  Pope Francis (2014). “The Joy of the Gospel”, p.21, BookBaby

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• When you're fighting for economic and social justice, you're always fighting for the minority.

  Bob Kerrey

  Fighting, Justice, Minorities

  "Bob Kerrey Will Call Your Bullshit" by Ted Genoways, www.motherjones.com. September/October 2012.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• A host of positive psychological changes inevitably will result from widespread economic security. The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts among husbands, wives and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth on the scale of dollars is eliminated.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Husband, Children

  "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?". Book by Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967.

  31 Copy quote

  Show source

• The problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  War, Racism, Evil

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2015). “The Radical King”, p.103, Beacon Press

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• The way in which we can promote peace, is by promoting sustainable management of our resources, equitable distribution of these resources, and that the only way you can actually do that, is that then you have to have a political, economic system that facilitates that. And then you get into the issues of human rights, justice, economic justice, social justice, and good governance or democratic governance. That's how it ties up.

  Wangari Maathai

  Rights, Issues, Ties

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

  21 Copy quote

  Show source

• I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Block, Order

  Letter from Birmingham Jail, Alabama, 16 Apr. 1963, in Atlantic Monthly Aug. 1963, p. 81

  128 Copy quote

  Show source

• America, you must be born again!

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  America, Born Again, Born

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2015). “The Radical King”, p.103, Beacon Press

  6 Copy quote

  Show source