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Reflection is only a partial understanding of truth if it does not translate itself in practice into commitments to the common good and justice. Truth is not mere abstraction but something to be done and is only apprehended when this is realized.
Adolfo Perez Esquivel
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Reflection on truth is incomplete without actionable commitments to justice and the common good.

In this quote, Adolfo Perez Esquivel emphasizes that merely thinking about truth is insufficient; it must be accompanied by active commitments to promote justice and the welfare of society. True understanding of truth requires practical application and a moral obligation to engage in actions that benefit the common good, illustrating that knowledge should lead to responsible action rather than remaining as an abstract concept.

Themes

TruthJusticeCommon GoodCommitmentReflection

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about social responsibility, one might quote this to highlight the need for action in the face of injustice.

More from Adolfo Perez Esquivel

We know that peace is only possible when it is the fruit of justice. True peace is a profound transformation by means of the force of nonviolence that is the power of love.
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Don't stand back with your arms folded; step forward... There is hope and light to resist injustice and promote peace without violence.
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... we believe in the vocation of communion and participation of our people, who day to day awaken to their political conscience and express their desire for change and profound democratization of society. A change based on justice, built with love, and which will bring us the most anxiously desired fruits of peace.
Adolfo Perez EsquivelRead

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