A man doesn't say I will starve myself to death to keep from starving, or that he'd spend all of his money to save money. Why should he be willing to die for the privilege of living?
Dalton TrumboRead
There are plenty of laws to protect guys' money even in war time but there's nothing on the books says a man's life's his own.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the disparity between legal protections for wealth and the lack of protection for individual life.
Dalton Trumbo's quote reflects on the ironic reality that while legal systems are in place to safeguard financial assets, there is a stark absence of similar protections for a person's life. It suggests a critique of societal values, emphasizing that human life is seen as less valuable than material wealth, especially in times of conflict where the threat to life is prevalent.
Themes
LifeLawsProtectionWealthCritique
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the value of human life versus material wealth during a philosophy class.
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The chief internal enemies of any state are not spies nor saboteurs nor the paid agents of foreign governments. They are, on the contrary, those myriads of public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people.
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Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.
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The blacklist was a time of evil...no one on either side who survived it came through untouched by evil...[Looking] back on this time...it will do no good to search for villains or heroes or saints or devils because there were none; there were only victims.
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Then there was this freedom the little guys were always getting killed for. Was it freedom from another country? Freedom from work or disease or death? Freedom from your mother-in-law? Please mister give us a bill of sale on this freedom before we go out and get killed. Give us a bill of sale drawn up plainly in advance what we're getting killed for... so we can be sure after we've won your war that we've got the same kind of freedom we bargained for.
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