The labor movement is organized upon a principle that the strong shall help the weak.
John L. LewisRead
The balancing of the budget will not in itself place a teaspoonful of milk in a hungry baby's stomach, or remove the rags from its mother's back.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Merely balancing budgets does not address the real needs of the impoverished.
John L. Lewis highlights the inadequacy of fiscal responsibility when it doesn't translate into tangible support for the most vulnerable members of society. The quote reflects a critique of economic policies that prioritize budgets over social welfare, emphasizing that financial adjustments alone cannot alleviate hunger or poverty.
Themes
BudgetPovertySocial WelfareEconomicsHuman Needs
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social policy, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of addressing human needs beyond just balancing budgets.
More from John L. Lewis
All quotes βThe workers of the nation were tired of waiting for corporate industry to right their economic wrongs, to alleviate their social agony and to grant them their political rights. Despairing of fair treatment, they resolved to do something for themselves.
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The organized workers of America, free in their industrial life, conscious partners in production, secure in their homes and enjoying a decent standard of living, will prove the finest bulwark against the intrusion of alien doctrines of government.
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Courage is not how a man stands or falls, but how he gets back up again
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The union miner cannot agree to the acceptance of a wage principle which will permit his annual earnings and his living standards to be determined by the hungriest unfortunates whom the non-union operators can employ.
John L. LewisRead
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