QuoteProject
If I want to be free from any other man's dictation, I must understand that I can have no other man under my control.
William Graham Sumner
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

True freedom requires mutual respect and the acknowledgment of autonomy in relationships.

This quote emphasizes the vital concept of autonomy and mutual respect in interpersonal relationships. To be free from domination or control by others, one must also forgo the desire to control or dictate others’ lives. It speaks to the balance required for genuine freedom where both parties acknowledge each other's independence.

Themes

FreedomAutonomyRelationshipsControlRespect

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a speech about personal freedoms in a political context.

More from William Graham Sumner

The forgotten man... He works, he votes, generally he prays, but his chief business in life is to pay.
William Graham SumnerRead
It is the tendency of the social burdens to crush out the middle class, and to force society into an organization of only two classes, one at each social extreme.
William Graham SumnerRead
We shall find that every effort to realize equality necessitates a sacrifice of liberty.
William Graham SumnerRead
The Forgotten Man is delving away in patient industry, supporting his family, paying his taxes, casting his vote, supporting the church and the school, reading his newspaper, and cheering for the politician of his admiration, but he is the only one for whom there is no provision in the great scramble and the big divide. Such is the Forgotten Man. He works, he votes, generally he prays β€” but he always pays β€” yes, above all, he pays.
William Graham SumnerRead
The men who start out with the notion that the world owes them a living generally find that the world pays its 'debt' in the penitentiary or the poor house.
William Graham SumnerRead
We throw all our attention on the utterly idle question whether A has done as well as B, when the only question is whether A has done as well as he could.
William Graham SumnerRead

Similar quotes

The world is a sacred vessel. It should not be meddled with. It should not be owned. If you try to meddle with it you will ruin it. If you try to own it you will lose it
LaoziRead
Virtue isn't not wronging others but not wishing to wrong others.
DemocritusRead
Hubbard set up the Church of Scientology in Hollywood in 1954 for a reason. He understood that celebrity was increasingly a feature of American public life, and celebrities themselves were going to be worshiped as minor deities were in the ancient world. The idea was: if you could get them, think how many people would follow.
Lawrence WrightRead
My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.
Mahatma GandhiRead
I told you I would tell you my names. This is what they call me. I'm called Glad-of-War, Grim, Raider, and Third. I am One-Eyed. I am called Highest, and True-Guesser. I am Grimnir, and I am the Hooded One. I am All-Father, and I am Gondlir Wand-Bearer. I have as many names as there are winds, as many titles as there are ways to die. My ravens are Huginn and Muninn, Thought and Memory; my wolves are Freki and Geri; my horse is the gallows.
Neil GaimanRead
Understanding that everything is impermanent, that happiness is transformed into suffering, and that all phenomena are lacking reality in themselves and are only projections of our mind, will permit us to counteract the first hindrance to meditation, that is, our attachment to this world.
Bokar RinpocheRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.