QuoteProject
The intolerance of the few, or the risk of it, carries the day against the wider humanity of the many.
Paul Robeson
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Intolerance from a small group can overshadow the values of the larger community.

This quote by Paul Robeson highlights how the negative behaviors and attitudes of a minority can significantly impact society, often overpowering the more humane and compassionate values held by the majority. It serves as a reminder of the importance of vigilance against intolerance, which can undermine collective progress towards a more inclusive and humane community.

Themes

IntoleranceHumanityCommunitySocietyValues

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a speech addressing social justice issues.

More from Paul Robeson

I've learned that my people are not the only ones oppressed... I have sung my songs all over the world and everywhere found that some common bond makes the people of all lands take to Negro songs as their own.
Paul RobesonRead
We ask for nothing that is not ours by right, and herein lies the great moral power of our demand.
Paul RobesonRead
My mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter, and my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in the time of Washington baked bread for George Washington's troops when they crossed the Delaware, and my own father was a slave.
Paul RobesonRead
I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom
Paul RobesonRead
And at home in the United States we found continued and increased persecution, first of leaders of the Communist Party, and then of all honest anti-fascists.
Paul RobesonRead
Art is not just to show life as it is, but to show life as it should be.
Paul RobesonRead

Similar quotes

To believe that will has power over potentiality, that the passage to actuality is the result of a decision that puts an end to the ambiguity of potentiality (which is always potentiality to do and not to do) β€” this is the perpetual illusion of morality.
Giorgio AgambenRead
The media's power is frail. Without the people's support, it can be shut off with the ease of turning a light switch.
Corazon AquinoRead
As a young man... you don't know anything about yourself. And add on to that, you're on the cover of magazines. People are interviewing you about what you think. You feel like a real phony.
Ethan HawkeRead
No, it's not that they're bad. It's that they're obliged to pretend they're good. They've been brought up to deceive and be cunning, to protect themselves from our society. I don't want to be like that.
Carlos FuentesRead
Thoughts and feelings are suspended in a vacuum unless they instigate and feed the selected actions, and it is the characters actions which reveal the character in the play.
Uta HagenRead
Everyone has to find what is right for them, and it is different for everyone. Eating for me is how you proclaim your beliefs three times a day. That is why all religions have rules about eating. Three times a day, I remind myself that I value life and do not want to cause pain to or kill other living beings. That is why I eat the way I do.
Natalie PortmanRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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