You are on the eve of a complete victory. You can't go wrong. The world is behind you.
Josephine BakerRead
I wanted to get far away from those who believed in cruelty, so then I went to France, a land of true freedom, democracy, equality and fraternity.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire to escape cruelty and seek a place that embodies ideals of freedom and equality.
Josephine Baker's quote reflects her longing to distance herself from environments that foster cruelty and oppression. By choosing France, she highlights her quest for a society that celebrates principles of freedom, democracy, equality, and fraternity—values she esteemed and wished to immerse herself in, showing the importance of seeking out communities that align with one's ethical beliefs and aspirations.
In practice
Use this quote in a speech about the importance of civil rights and social justice.
You are on the eve of a complete victory. You can't go wrong. The world is behind you.
I ran away from St. Louis, and then I ran away from the United States, because of that terror of discrimination.
Friends, to me for years St. Louis represented a city of fear... humiliation... misery and terror... A city where in the eyes of the white man a Negro should know his place and had better stay in it.
I did take the blows [of life], but I took them with my chin up, in dignity, because I so profoundly love and respect humanity.
You must get an education. You must go to school, and you must learn to protect yourself. And you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the gun.
I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more.
We have tried to define precisely what it means to be a force for good - always do the right, ethical thing. Ultimately, 'Don't be evil' seems the easiest way to summarize it.
I've never allowed my political life, or my life as a basketball player, to define the totality of my humanity or my personality.
There exists a world. In terms of probability this borders on the impossible. It would have been far more likely if, by chance, there was nothing at all. Then, at least, no one would have began asking why there was nothing.
Our interconnectedness on the planet is the dominating truth of the 21st century. One stark result is that the world's poor live, and especially die, with the awareness that the United States is doing little to mobilise the weapons of mass salvation that could offer them survival, dignity and eventually the escape from poverty.
If I had a choice, if I had understood earlier that the reason my days were all the same was because I wanted them like that, perhaps.
In order to exist, man must rebel, but rebellion must respect the limits that it discovers in itself - limits where minds meet, and in meeting, begin to exist.
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