Social Injustice Quotes

• Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.

  Harry S. Truman

  War, Injustice, Economic

  Harry S. Truman (2014). “1945: Year of Decision”, p.337, New Word City

  62 Copy quote

  Show source

• There can be no peace as long as there is grinding poverty, social injustice, inequality, oppression, environmental degradation, and as long as the weak and small continue to be trodden by the mighty and powerful.

  Dalai Lama

  Powerful, Long, Environmental

  36 Copy quote

• Every social injustice is not only cruel, but it is economic waste.

  William Feather

  Mean People, Waste, Injustice

  20 Copy quote

• Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Wisdom, Peace, Kings

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

  175 Copy quote

  Show source

• When community action was put into federal law in the early sixties as part of the effort to combat poverty and social injustice, I supported it intellectually.

  Barney Frank

  Law, Effort, Community

  16 Copy quote

• The fact that he didn't get credit for a while is more the story of social injustice. But his own spirit wasn't driven by that, and wasn't dependent upon that. He just wished he had the cash to go to medical school.

  Mary Stuart Masterson

  School, Stories, Credit

  16 Copy quote

• If the market is left to sort matters out, social injustice will be heightened and suffering in the community will grow with the neglect the market fosters.

  Helen Clark

  Community, Suffering, Matter

  16 Copy quote

• I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

  Thomas Jefferson

  God, Country, War

  Notes on the State of Virginia, query 18 (1781 - 1785)

  86 Copy quote

  Show source

• Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.

  Robert Kennedy

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Robert F. Kennedy (1998). “Make Gentle the Life of the World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy”, Harcourt

  86 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

  Robert Kennedy

  Change, Hope, Courage

  Robert F. Kennedy (1998). “Make Gentle the Life of the World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy”, Harcourt

  233 Copy quote

  Show source

• If we divide into two camps--even into violent and the nonviolent--and stand in one camp while attacking the other, the world will never have peace. We will always blame and condemn those we feel are responsible for wars and social injustice, without recognizing the degree of violence within ourselves. We must work on ourselves and also with those we condemn if we want to have a real impact.

  Ayya Khema

  Real, War, Impact

  17 Copy quote

• Black Power alone is no more insurance against social injustice than white power.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  White, Black, Injustice

  7 Copy quote
• 

  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

• In addition to world conflicts, the most challenging problem we face today is hunger, deprivation and social injustice. Because we're ruled by separate self-interest, we go on accumulating personal wealth, ignoring the well being of the others.

  Satish Kumar

  Self, Challenges, Goes On

  Interview with Frank Lipman, www.drfranklipman.com. April 14, 2009.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Today, we are closer to fulfilling America's promise of economic and social justice because we stand on the shoulders of giants like Dr. King, yet our future progress will depend on how we prepare our next generation of leaders. We must fortify their ladders of opportunity by correcting social injustice, breaking the cycle of poverty in struggling communities, and reinvesting in our schools. Education can unlock a child's potential and remains our strongest weapon against injustice and inequality.

  Barack Obama

  Kings, Children, Struggle

  5 Copy quote

• We have learned that social injustice is the destruction of justice itself.

  Herbert Hoover

  Justice, Presidential, Social

  Herbert Hoover (2005). “American Individualism”, p.11, Cosimo, Inc.

  6 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

• The root cause of poverty is social injustice and the bad government that abets it

  Colin Powell

  Government, Roots, Abet

  13 Copy quote

• If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it.

  Democritus

  Suffering, Injustice, Unhappiness

  13 Copy quote

• [Christian rebellion] arises from the doctrine of mankind made in the image of God, and therefore protests against all forms of dehumanization. It sets itself against the social injustices which insult God the Creator, seeks to protect human beings from oppression and longs to liberate them… it protests against every authoritarian regime, whether of the left or of the right, which discriminates against minorities, denies people their civil rights, forbids the free expression of opinions or imprisons people for their views alone.

  John Stott

  Christian, Rights, Views

  8 Copy quote

• Peace is not just the absence of mass destruction, but a positive internal and external condition in which people are free so that they can grow to their full potential.

  Petra Kelly

  Positivity, Mass Destruction, People

  Petra Karin Kelly, Glenn D. Paige (1992). “Nonviolence Speaks to Power”, Matsunaga Inst for Peace

  51 Copy quote

  Show source

• My heart trembles when I reflect that God is just

  Thomas Jefferson

  God, Patriotic, Heart

  81 Copy quote

• It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.

  Robert Kennedy

  Courage, Peace, Volunteer

  Robert F. Kennedy (1968). “"An Honorable profession": a tribute to Robert F. Kennedy”

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• I will not tire of declaring that if we really want an effective end to violence we must remove the violence that lies at the root of all violence: structural violence, social injustice, exclusion of citizens from the management of the country, repression. All this is what constitutes the primal cause, from which the rest flows naturally.

  Oscar Romero

  Country, Lying, Roots

  378 Copy quote

• A truly free society must not include a peace which oppresses us. We must learn on our own terms what peace and freedom mean together. There can be no peace if there is social injustice and suppression of human rights, because external and internal peace are inseparable. Peace is not just the absence of mass destruction, but a positive internal and external condition in which people are free so that they can grow to their full potential.

  Petra Kelly

  Peace, Mean, Rights

  52 Copy quote