Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
Woodrow WilsonRead
What is at the heart of all national problems? It is that we have seen the hand of material interest sometimes about to close upon our dearest rights and possessions.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that material interests often threaten our fundamental rights and values.
Woodrow Wilson's quote reflects on the idea that the core of many national issues stems from the encroachment of material interests on our essential rights and possessions. This suggests that the relentless pursuit of profit and wealth can lead to the erosion of the values and freedoms that are critical to society and individuals. It serves as a warning that if these interests go unchecked, they could undermine the very foundations of justice and equity.
Themes
MaterialismRightsInterestsSocietyProblems
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on economic inequality, one can cite this quote to illustrate the dangers of prioritizing wealth over human rights.
More from Woodrow Wilson
All quotes βSince trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused.
Woodrow WilsonRead
The history of liberty is the history of limitations on the power of government, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of power, we are resisting the processes of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties.
Woodrow WilsonRead
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers.
Woodrow WilsonRead
The way to stop financial joyriding is to arrest the chauffeur, not the automobile.
Woodrow WilsonRead
Once lead this people into war, and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street.
Woodrow WilsonRead
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