“It is to the middle class we must look for the safety of England.”
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) novelist
"George III".
Four Georges (1860-1861)
"A Word More About America" (1885)
“It is to the middle class we must look for the safety of England.”
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) novelist
"George III".
Four Georges (1860-1861)
“Today in America, the middle class is disappearing.”
Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont
2010s, 2016, Democratic Presidential Debate in Miami (9 March 2016)
“I grew up in a middle-class family in the middle of America in the middle of the last century.”
Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady
Economic policy speech, May 29, 2007. http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=1839 <br class="br">Presidential campaign (January 20, 2007 – 2008)
“I believe America thrives when the middle class thrives.”
Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady
Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), 2016 Democratic National Convention (July 28, 2016)
Context: Here's what I believe. I believe America thrives when the middle class thrives. I believe that our economy isn't working the way it should because our democracy isn't working the way it should. That's why we need to appoint Supreme Court justices who will get money out of politics and expand voting rights, not restrict them. And if necessary we'll pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United! I believe American corporations that have gotten so much from our country should be just as patriotic in return. Many of them are. But too many aren't. It's wrong to take tax breaks with one hand and give out pink slips with the other. And I believe Wall Street can never, ever be allowed to wreck Main Street again. I believe in science. I believe that climate change is real and that we can save our planet while creating millions of good-paying clean energy jobs. I believe that when we have millions of hardworking immigrants contributing to our economy, it would be self-defeating and inhumane to try to kick them out. Comprehensive immigration reform will grow our economy and keep families together - and it's the right thing to do.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
1950s, Address at the Philadelphia Convention Hall (1956)
Context: The right of no nation depends upon the date of its birth or the size of its power. As there can be no second class citizens before the law of America, so—we believe—there can be no second-class nations before the law of the world community.
John Banville (1945) Irish writer
John Banville: Using words to paint pictures of "magical" Prague (2006)
“We did not want middle class.”
Denis Healey (1917–2015) British Labour Party politician and Life peer
Source: On Tony Benn; remark to the Shadow Cabinet (31 July 1972), quoted in Tony Benn, Office Without Power: Diaries 1968–72 (1988), p. 441
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1960s, The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousnes (1960)