1960s, The American Promise (1965)
Context: This was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded with a purpose. The great phrases of that purpose still sound in every American heart, North and South: "All men are created equal" — "government by consent of the governed" — "give me liberty or give me death." Well, those are not just clever words, or those are not just empty theories. In their name Americans have fought and died for two centuries, and tonight around the world they stand there as guardians of our liberty, risking their lives. Those words are a promise to every citizen that he shall share in the dignity of man. This dignity cannot be found in a man's possessions; it cannot be found in his power, or in his position. It really rests on his right to be treated as a man equal in opportunity to all others. It says that he shall share in freedom, he shall choose his leaders, educate his children, and provide for his family according to his ability and his merits as a human being.
“I would say that the surest measure of a man's or a woman's maturity is the harmony, style, joy, and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse.”
Quoted in Older & Wiser Edited by G. B. Dianda and B. J. Hofmayer (1995)
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Benjamin Spock 19
American pediatrician and author of Baby and Child Care 1903–1998Related quotes
“That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man, if with his tongue he cannot win a woman.”
Source: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
“The surest sign that a man has a genuine taste of his own is that he is uncertain of it.”
"Reading", p. 6
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)
Letter 2 (July 17, 1837).
Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman (1837)