Source: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1873-1874), Ch. 1
Context: I am not the advocate of Slavery, Caste, and Hatred, nor do I deny that a sense may be given to the words, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, in which they may be regarded as good. I wish to assert with respect to them two propositions.
First, that in the present day even those who use those words most rationally — that is to say, as the names of elements of social life which, like others, have their advantages and disadvantages according to time, place, and circumstance — have a great disposition to exaggerate their advantages and to deny the existence, or at any rate to underrate the importance, of their disadvantages.
Next, that whatever signification be attached to them, these words are ill-adapted to be the creed of a religion, that the things which they denote are not ends in themselves, and that when used collectively the words do not typify, however vaguely, any state of society which a reasonable man ought to regard with enthusiasm or self-devotion.
“If every one of those good words—liberty, equality, fraternity, democracy, human rights—has been called "bourgeois", what on earth does that leave for us?”
Obituary of Fang Lizhi http://www.economist.com/node/21552551, The Economist, 14th April 2012, p. 98
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Fang Lizhi 4
Professor of astrophysics; civil rights activist and dissid… 1936–2012Related quotes
I Think I'll Sit This One Out (1939)
Context: Justice alone knows liberty, equality, and fraternity, and justice is a human virtue arising from man's human capacity to reason. We cannot make sense out of justice by looking at the moon or taking dope or building battleships. We can make sense out of justice by using our reason to discover that justice, like wisdom, is better than rubies.
“LIBERTY!
FREEDOM!
DEMOCRACY!
True anyhow no matter how many
Liars use those words.”
Speech to the Conservative Party Conference (10 October 1975) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102777
Leader of the Opposition
Context: Some Socialists seem to believe that people should be numbers in a State computer. We believe they should be individuals. We are all unequal. No one, thank heavens, is like anyone else, however much the Socialists may pretend otherwise. We believe that everyone has the right to be unequal but to us every human being is equally important.
Inscription on monument
Collected Works, Vol. 31.
Collected Works
Source: “What’s wrong with Libertarianism”, p. 427
“Humanity has only one religion, state, cast, and colour, which teaches us every human is equal.”
LINK BUILDING FOR SEO: The Definitive Guide Oxford University Press, (May 16, 2019), ISBN-10: 1099305861, ISBN-13: 978-1099305863
Source: The House Of Commons At Work (1993), Chapter 1, The System of Government, p. 4