With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in men, than any other association of men.
Interpretation
Trade unions have significantly contributed to humanity's progress despite their imperfections.
Clarence Darrow emphasizes the vital role that trade unions play in advancing societal values and improving the lives of individuals. He acknowledges that while trade unions may have their shortcomings, their contributions to honesty, education, and character development in people surpass those of any other organizational group throughout history. This perspective invites us to appreciate the positive influences of collective action and solidarity in improving society.
In practice
In a speech advocating for workers' rights, one might use this quote to highlight the positive impacts of unions.
Do I need to argue to Your Honor that cruelty only breeds cruelty? That hatred only causes hatred; that if there is any way to soften this human heart which is hard enough at its best, if there is any way to kill evil and hatred and all that goes with it, it is not through evil and hatred and cruelty; it is through charity, and love, and understanding?
Chase after the truth like all hell.
No other offense has ever been visited with such severe penalties as seeking to help the oppressed.
Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man. She will have nothing from him who will not give her all. She knows that his pretended love serves but to betray. But when once the fierce heat of her quenchless, lustrous eyes have burned into the victim's heart, he will know no other smile but hers.
The trouble with law is lawyers.
The time will come when all people will view with horror light way in which society and its courts of law now take human life; and when that time comes, the way will be clear to device some better method of dealing with poverty and ignorance and their frequent byproducts, which we call crime.
Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.
The centuries are sprinkled with rare magic with divine creatures who help us get past the common and extraordinary ills that beset us
Ender nodded. It was a lie, of course, that it wouldnβt hurt a bit. But since adults always said it when it was going to hurt, he could count on that statement as an accurate prediction of the future. Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth.
The chief reason warfare is still with us is neither a secret death-wish of the human species, nor an irrepressible instinct of aggression, nor, finally and more plausibly, the serious economic and social dangers inherent in disarmament, but the simple fact that no substitute for this final arbiter in international affairs has yet appeared on the political scene.
Armaments, universal debt and planned obsolescence - those are the three pillars of Western prosperity.
The religious idea of God cannot do full duty for the metaphysical infinity.
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