Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
We do not move forward by curtailing people's liberty because we are afraid of what they may do or say.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of individual freedom and the dangers of restricting liberty due to fear.
Eleanor Roosevelt advocates for the principle that true progress cannot be achieved by limiting the freedoms of individuals out of fear. She suggests that curtailing liberty in response to potential negative actions or speech undermines the very foundation of a free society and stifles growth and innovation.
Themes
LibertyFreedomFearProgressSociety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about civil rights to advocate for personal freedoms.
More from Eleanor Roosevelt
All quotes βGreat minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
Our children should learn the general framework of their government and then they should know where they come in contact with the government, where it touches their daily lives and where their influence is exerted on the government. It must not be a distant thing, someone else's business, but they must see how every cog in the wheel of a democracy is important and bears its share of responsibility for the smooth running of the entire machine.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
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In this mob of I's inside, which one is me? Hear me out. I know I'm wandering, but don't start putting a lid on this racket. No telling what I'll do then. Every moment I'm thrown by your story. One moment it's happy, and I'm singing. One moment it's sad, and I'm weeping. It turns bitter, and I pull away. But then you spill a little grace, and just like that, I'm all light. It's not so bad, this arrangement, actually.
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...But listen, there will be more joy in heaven over the tears of a repentant sinner than over the white robes of a hundred just men.
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I've wondered, though, if one of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don't want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgment. We don't want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn't remarkable, then we don't have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims instead of grateful participants.
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In Christ there is no East nor West.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
Faith is a light of such supreme brilliance that it dazzles the mind and darkens all its visions of other realities, but in the end when we become used to the new light, we gain a new view of all reality transfigured and elevated in the light itself.
Thomas MertonRead