It is from weakness that people reach for dictators and concentrated government power. Only the strong can be free. And only the productive can be strong.
Interpretation
Weakness often leads people to seek authoritarian control, while true freedom and strength come from productivity and resilience.
This quote by Wendell Willkie suggests that in times of weakness or crisis, individuals may turn to dictators and centralized authority as a means of seeking security and stability. However, he emphasizes that genuine strength derives from productivity and self-reliance, allowing individuals the freedom to pursue their own paths without relying on oppressive governance.
In practice
In a speech discussing the importance of civic engagement and democracy.
Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the color of their skin.
Today it is becoming increasingly apparent to thoughtful Americans that we cannot fight the forces and ideas of imperialism abroad and maintain any form of imperialism at home. The war has done this to our thinking.
No man has a right in America to treat any other man "tolerantly" for tolerance is the assumption of superiority. Our liberties are equal rights of every citizen.
I believe the moral losses of expediency always far outweigh the temporary gains.
To suppress minority thinking and minority expression would tend to freeze society and prevent progress. Now more than ever we must keep in the forefront of our minds the fact that whenever we take away the liberties of those we hate, we are opening the way to loss of liberty for those we love.
Our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here, the people rule.
No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.
The over-representation of Wall Street banks in senior government positions sends a bad message. It tells people that one - and only one - point of view will dominate economic policymaking.
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
Politics is the art of the next best.
The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.
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