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There should be complete equality between the sexes, which will do away with that resulting form of hypocrisy called gallantry, or politeness to ladies.
— August Strindberg (1949-1912)Swedish playwright
“I find that principles have no real force except when one is well fed.”
— Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
Deeds of violence in our society are performed largely by those trying to establish their self-esteem, to defend their self-image and to demonstrate that they, too, are significant…. Violence arises not out of superfluity of power but out of powerlessness.
— Rollo May (1909-1994) Existential therapist, humanist
To call women the weaker sex is a libel: it is man’s injustice to women. If by strength is meant brute strength, then indeed is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man would not be. If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with women.
— Mahatma Gandhi (1869-assassinated 1948), Hindu national leader
Everything secret degenerates; nothing is safe that does not bear discussion and publicity.
— Lord Acton (1834-1902), English historian
Long experience has taught us that it is dangerous in the interest of truth to suppress opinions and ideas; it has further taught us that it is foolish to imagine that we can do so. It is far easier to meet an evil in the open and defeat it in fair combat in people’s minds than to drive it underground and have no hold on it or proper approach to it. Evil flourishes far more in the shadows than in the light of day.
— Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), Prime Minister of India
Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.
— from the constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), chartered in 1946
The professed purpose of the United States military is to maintain the peace, but its methods toward this goal are destructive and have resulted in the promotion of suffering and death of foreign peoples as well as its own.
— Susan Schnall (1943- ), Navy nurse court-martialed and discharged for her antiwar activities during the Viet Nam conflict
Persecution is the first law of society because it is always easier to suppress criticism than to meet it.
— Howard Mumford Jones (1892-1980), American writer
To robbery, slaughter, plunder they give the lying name of empire; they make a desert and call it peace.
— Cornelius Tacitus (c. 55-117 A,D,), Roman historian
