A great empire and little minds go ill together.
Edmund BurkeRead
[Slavery] is a weed that grows in every soil.
Interpretation
Slavery can thrive in any environment, suggesting that oppressive systems can emerge anywhere.
Edmund Burke's quote highlights the insidious nature of slavery, indicating that it is not confined to specific social, cultural, or geographical contexts. Instead, slavery is a pervasive issue that can infiltrate any society, represented metaphorically as a 'weed' that grows uncontrollably, emphasizing the need for vigilance and active resistance against such injustices in any soil that may harbor them.
In practice
During a speech on human rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the universal struggle against oppression.
A great empire and little minds go ill together.
To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.
The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.
Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling; it never forgives preaching of a new gospel.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Feminism has never emerged from the women who are most victimized by sexist oppression; women who are daily beaten down, mentally, physically, and spiritually - women who are powerless to change their condition in life. They are a silent majority.
I have a great mind to believe in Christianity for the mere pleasure of fancying I may be damned.
She had to live in this bright, red gabled house with the nurse until it was time for her to die... I thought how little we know about the feelings of old people. Children we understand, their fears and hopes and make-believe.
The feeling about a soldier is, when all is said and done, he wasn't really going to do very much with his life anyway. The example usually is: he wasn't going to compose Beethoven's Fifth.
Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already I am.
In an age of speed, I began to think nothing could be more exhilarating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.
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