If the meanest man in the republic is deprived of his rights,then every man in the republic is deprived of his rights.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the rights of even the least privileged individuals are integral to the rights of all.
Jane Addams' quote highlights the interconnectedness of human rights within a society. It suggests that if even the most marginalized person is denied their rights, it creates a ripple effect that undermines the rights of all individuals, emphasizing the importance of protecting the rights of every member within a community to ensure true justice and equality for all.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about social justice.
I might believe I had unusual talent if I did not know what good music was; I might enjoy half an hour's practice a day if I were busy and happy the rest of the time. You do not know what life means when all the difficulties are removed! I am simply smothered and sickened with advantages. It is like eating a sweet dessert the first thing in the morning.
America's future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live.
Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics.
I am not one of those who believe - broadly speaking - that women are better than men. We have not wrecked railroads, nor corrupted legislatures, nor done many unholy things that men have done; but then we must remember that we have not had the chance.
Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world.
National events determine our ideals, as much as our ideals determine national events.
It is a campaign not for abundance but for austerity. It is a campaign not for more freedom but for less. Strangest of all, it is a campaign not just against other people, but against ourselves.
It must be said in addition that the men with the most scrupulous respect for embryonic life are also those who are most zealous when it comes to condemning adults to death in war.
The zionist argument to justify Israel's present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history.
The laws of chess do not permit a free choice: you have to move whether you like it or not.
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.
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