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Everyone should be taught the nobility of labor, the heroism and splendor of honest effort. As long as it is considered disgraceful to labor, or aristocratic not to labor, the world will be filled with idleness and crime, and with every possible moral deformity.
Robert Green Ingersoll
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Labor should be valued and seen as honorable to prevent idleness and moral decay.

In this quote, Ingersoll emphasizes the importance of viewing labor as a noble and heroic endeavor. He argues that when society devalues work and equates it with disgrace, it leads to idleness and moral issues. Acknowledging the dignity of honest effort is essential for the moral fabric of society; without this recognition, negative consequences arise.

Themes

LaborEffortHonorSocietyMorality

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be shared during a labor day speech to highlight the importance of work.

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In all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have worshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars, and buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monuments sleeps the dust of murder.
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I believe that there is something far nobler than loyalty to any particular man. Loyalty to the truth as we perceive it - loyalty to our duty as we know it - loyalty to the ideals of our brain and heart - is, to my mind, far greater and far nobler than loyalty to the life of any particular man or God. . . .
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