Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.
Grover ClevelandRead
The communism of combined wealth and capital, the outgrown of overweening cupidity and selfishness which assiduously undermines the justice and integrity of free institutions, is not less dangerous than the communism of oppressed poverty and toil which, exasperated by injustice and discontent, attacks with wide disorder the citadel of misrule.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The dangers of extreme wealth and poverty can undermine justice and order in society.
Grover Cleveland emphasizes that both extreme wealth, driven by greed and selfishness, and extreme poverty, fueled by injustice and discontent, pose significant threats to the integrity and stability of social institutions. He argues that the consequences of excessive wealth can be just as perilous for society as the uprisings caused by desperate poverty, revealing the necessity for balance and justice within economic systems.
Themes
CommunismWealthPovertyJusticeSocietyGreedOrderIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about economic policies, this quote could highlight the importance of addressing wealth inequality.
More from Grover Cleveland
All quotes →Unswerving loyalty to duty, constant devotion to truth, and a clear conscience will overcome every discouragement and surely lead the way to usefulness and high achievement.
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Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.
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Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, exercises a public trust.
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It is the responsibility of the citizens to support their government. It is not the responsibility of the government to support its citizens.
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Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again.
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