I am forced to get my living by the labour of my hand; and the sweat of my brow... for bitter bread, earned under the frowns of some who have no natural or divine right to be above me, and entirely owe their grandeur and honor to grinding the faces of the poor.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the struggle of the working class and critiques the societal structures that privilege the wealthy at the expense of the poor.
James Otis's quote encapsulates the plight of workers who toil tirelessly yet receive little recognition or reward compared to those in power who benefit from their labor. It emphasizes the injustice faced by the labor force, as their hard work is often taken for granted and exploited by the privileged elite, who owe their status to the oppression of the poor. This sentiment highlights the need for social equity and a reevaluation of the societal hierarchies that perpetuate inequality.
In practice
This quote is powerful for a labor rights speech advocating for fair wages.
There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the Law of Nature and the grant of God Almighty, who has given to all men a natural right to be free, and they have it ordinarily in their power to make themselves so, if they please.
I will to my dying day oppose with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is.
If we are not represented, we are slaves.
Now, one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house.
It is a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.
An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.
The compass of compassion asks not what is good for me? but what is good? Not what is best for me but what is best. Not what is right for me but what is right. Not how much can we take? but How much ought we leave? and how much might we give? Not what is easy but what is worthy. Not what is practical but what is moral.
Though Destiny a hundred times waylays you,in the end it pitches a tent for you in Heaven. It is God's loving kindness to terrify you,in order to lead you to His Kingdom of safety.
Black Consciousness is in essence the realization by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression.
The choice, however, is as clear now for nations as it was once for the individual: peace or extinction.
It is no longer simply the merchant prince, or the aristocratic monopoly, or even the employing class, that is exploiting the world: it is the nation, a new democratic nation composed of united capital and labor.
The only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and this is a feeling that I have always cultivated.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.