quotations about equality
A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.
MILTON FRIEDMAN
Free to Choose
Equality is a perpetual threat to the status quo.
ROBERT TSAI
Practical Equality: Forging Justice in a Divided Nation
Before God, there is neither Greek nor barbarian, neither rich nor poor, and the slave is as good as his master, for by birth all men are free; they are citizens of that universal commonwealth which embraces all the world, brethren of one family, and children of God.
LORD ACTON
The History of Freedom in Antiquity
The equalization of fortunes may have some slight tendency to stifle animosity and to prevent dissension. But its effect is always inconsiderable, and often doubtful; since those who think themselves entitled to superiority will not patiently brook equality.
ARISTOTLE
Politics
We live in a system that espouses merit, equality, and a level playing field, but exalts those with wealth, power, and celebrity, however gained.
DERRICK A. BELL
Ethical Ambition
Just as modern mass production requires the standardization of commodities, so the social process requires standardization of man, and this standardization is called equality.
ERICH FROMM
The Art of Loving
The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.
JANE ADDAMS
Twenty Years at Hull-House
Equality before the law is probably forever unattainable. It is a noble ideal, but it can never be realized, for what men value in this world is not rights but privileges.
H. L. MENCKEN
"H. L. Mencken: His Last Gibes and Brickbats", Life Magazine, Feb. 20, 1956