If freedom makes social progress possible, so social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom. The two are inseparable partners in the great adventure of humanity.
Robert KennedyRead
Our attitude towards immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as the talent and energy allow. Neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the belief in equal opportunity for all immigrants, asserting that hard work and talent should determine success, regardless of background.
Robert Kennedy's quote advocates for the American ideal of equal opportunity, stressing that one's race or origin should not hinder their ability to succeed. By highlighting the importance of attitude towards immigration, Kennedy underscores the necessity of believing in potential and meritocracy, suggesting that America provides a platform for individuals, regardless of their starting point in life, to achieve their dreams based purely on their abilities and determination.
Themes
ImmigrationOpportunityEqualitySuccessBeliefTalent
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about national unity and strength.
More from Robert Kennedy
All quotes →Elections remind us not only of the rights but the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy.
Robert KennedyRead
Within the United States, we have put great emphasis upon political freedoms. Because it has been our experience that these freedoms can lead to others.
Robert KennedyRead
It is one thing to open job opportunities. It is another to train people to fill them, or to persuade American enterprise to seek Negro as well as white applicants.
Robert KennedyRead
The Gross National Product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America - except whether we are proud to be Americans.
Robert KennedyRead
The United States was born in revolution and nurtured by struggle. Throughout our history, the American people have befriended and supported all those who seek independence and a better way of life.
Robert KennedyRead
Similar quotes
For every nation that lives peaceably, there will be many others to grow hard and push their arrogance to extremes; the gods attend to these things slowly. But they attend to those who put off God and turn to madness.
SophoclesRead
Death walks faster than the wind and never returns what he has taken.
Hans Christian AndersenRead
I insist that men shall have the right to work out their lives in their own way, always allowing to others the right to work out their lives in their own way, too.
Giuseppe GaribaldiRead
My main ambition as a historian is to figure out what's really happening in the world, instead of the fictions that humans have been creating for thousands of years in order to explain or control what's happening in the world.
Yuval Noah HarariRead
It’s a strange myth that atheists have nothing to live for. It’s the opposite. We have nothing to die for. We have everything to live for.
Ricky GervaisRead
To denounce does not free the self from what it hates, any more than ignoring the past shuts off its influence.
Jacques BarzunRead