There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.
Jackie RobinsonRead
I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.
Interpretation
Respect is more important than popularity.
This quote emphasizes the importance of mutual respect over seeking approval from others. Jackie Robinson, a pioneer in breaking racial barriers in baseball, highlights that the fundamental recognition of one's humanity and dignity is paramount, irrespective of personal opinions others may hold.
In practice
Citing this quote in a speech about equality in the workplace.
There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.
The way I figured it, I was even with baseball and baseball with me. The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.
My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people's kids than I did my own.
I had no future with the Dodgers, because I was too closely identified with Branch Rickey. After the club was taken over by Walter O'Malley, you couldn't even mention Mr. Rickey's name in front of him. I considered Mr. Rickey the greatest human being I had ever known.
The colonel replied that he didn't care how my men had got the job done. He was happy that it had been accomplished. He said that, obviously, no matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.
When I look back at what I had to go through in black baseball, I can only marvel at the many black players who stuck it out for years in the Jim Crow leagues because they had nowhere else to go.
Everyone I have lost in the closing of a door the click of the lock is not forgotten, they do not die but remain within the soft edges of the earth, the ash of house fires and cancer in sin and forgiveness huddled under old blankets dreaming their way into my hands, my heart closing tight like fists. - "Indian Boy Love Song #1
It is he who has broken the bond of marriage - not I. I only break its bondage.
Where there must be a choice, a girl will choose Daddy. Even if you are Mommy, you concede that this must be so: you remember when you were a girl, too.
I chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, for qualities that would wear well.
Gaining people's trust might be harder than gaining all creation. But, what is harder than gaining people's trust is having to abandon them.
She is inhumanly alone. And then, all at once, she isn't.
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