Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) American birth control activist, educator and nurse
W.E.B. DuBois, Birth Control Review, June 1932. Quoted by Sanger in her proposal for the "Negro Project."
Misattributed
1873, Speech on Civil Rights Act (1873)
Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) American birth control activist, educator and nurse
W.E.B. DuBois, Birth Control Review, June 1932. Quoted by Sanger in her proposal for the "Negro Project."
Misattributed
Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902) German doctor, anthropologist, public health activist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician
1848 (quoted in Infections and Inequalities by Paul Farmer, page 1.
Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America
Source: Democracy in America, Volume I (1835), Chapter XV-IXX, Chapter XVIII.
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
Letter to John Adams (28 October 1813)
1810s
Variant: There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.
Context: I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents... The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature, for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society... Every one, by his property, or by his satisfactory situation, is interested in the support of law and order. And such men may safely and advantageously reserve to themselves a wholesome control over their public affairs, and a degree of freedom, which, in the hands of the canaille [the masses] of the cities of Europe, would be instantly perverted to the demolition and destruction of everything public and private.
Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) Venezuelan military and political leader, South American libertador
Letter from Jamaica (Summer 1815)
Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince
Variant: A man who strives after goodness in all his acts is sure to come to ruin, since there are so many men who are not good.
Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 15; translated by W. K. Marriot
Samuel Adams (1722–1803) American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political philosopher
Letter to James Warren (12 February 1779)
“Among the Americans serving on Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.”
Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966) United States Navy fleet admiral
Statement after the Battle of Iwo Jima (c. March - May 1945); "UNCOMMON VALOR WAS A COMMON VIRTUE" has been inscribed on the USMC War Memorial.
Context: By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans serving on Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.
“I can prove anything by statistics except the truth.”
George Canning (1770–1827) British statesman and politician
As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908) edited by Tryon Edwards, p. 587.