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We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes taking decisive action against injustice rather than merely addressing its symptoms.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's quote calls for proactive engagement in the fight against injustice, suggesting that it is not enough to offer temporary relief to those harmed by systemic wrongs. Instead, it advocates for challenging and dismantling the structures of injustice themselves, highlighting the need for courage and determination in enacting real change.

Themes

InjusticeActionCourageChangeAdvocacy

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a speech about social justice initiatives.

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It is God's earth out of which man is taken. From it he has his body. His body belongs to his essential being. Man's body is not his prison, his shell his exterior, but man himself. Man does not "have" a body; he does not "have" a soul; rather he "is" body and soul. Man in the beginning is really his body. He is one. He is his body, as Christ is completely his body, as the Church is the body of Christ
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...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.
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Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.
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Quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | QuoteProject