QuoteProject
If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.
B. R. Ambedkar
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of protecting the constitution against misuse, even if it means rejecting it completely.

B. R. Ambedkar's quote speaks to the principle that a constitution must serve the people and uphold justice; if it becomes a tool of oppression or is misused, it loses its legitimacy. In such a scenario, the individual has a moral obligation to oppose and dismantle it rather than passively accept its corruption.

Themes

ConstitutionJusticeOppressionFreedomCivil Rights

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech advocating for civil liberties, one might say, 'As B. R. Ambedkar stated, if I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.'

More from B. R. Ambedkar

Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellow men.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
Law and Order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.
B. R. AmbedkarRead

Similar quotes

Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.
Denis DiderotRead
What I'm dealing with is so vast and great that it can't be called the truth. It's above the truth.
Sun RaRead
What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.
AristotleRead
He who sups with the devil had better have a long spoon. The devilry of modernity has its own magic: The [believer] who sups with it will find his spoon getting shorter and shorter--until that last supper in which he is left alone at the table, with no spoon at all and with an empty plate. The devil, one may guess, will by then have gone away to more interesting company.
Peter L. BergerRead
Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization.
Daniel WebsterRead
Civilisation, the orderly world in which we live, is frail. We are skating on thin ice. There is a fear of a collective disaster. Terrorism, genocide, flu, tsunamis.
Zygmunt BaumanRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.