To suppress minority thinking and minority expression would tend to freeze society and prevent progress. Now more than ever we must keep in the forefront of our minds the fact that whenever we take away the liberties of those we hate, we are opening the way to loss of liberty for those we love.
Interpretation
Suppressing minority views hinders societal progress and threatens everyone's freedoms.
This quote emphasizes the importance of protecting the rights and expressions of minority groups in society. It warns that when we infringe on the liberties of those we disagree with, we lay the groundwork for the erosion of our own freedoms, ultimately affecting everyone, including those we cherish. This message encourages an open and inclusive dialogue for societal advancement.
In practice
During a speech on civil liberties, one might quote this to emphasize the need for protecting all forms of expression.
Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the color of their skin.
It is from weakness that people reach for dictators and concentrated government power. Only the strong can be free. And only the productive can be strong.
Today it is becoming increasingly apparent to thoughtful Americans that we cannot fight the forces and ideas of imperialism abroad and maintain any form of imperialism at home. The war has done this to our thinking.
No man has a right in America to treat any other man "tolerantly" for tolerance is the assumption of superiority. Our liberties are equal rights of every citizen.
I believe the moral losses of expediency always far outweigh the temporary gains.
The opposite of every truth is just as true.
We twentieth-century Mexicans, even those of pure Indian descent, look on the pre-Columbian world as a world on the other side, not only distant in time but across the cultural divide.
Those who make some other person their job... are dangerous.
Woe to him who doesn't know how to wear his mask, be he king or pope!
Our society does reward beauty on the outside over health on the inside. Women must not be blamed for choosing short-term beauty "fixes" that harm our long-term health, since our life spans are inverted under the beauty myth, and there is no great social or economic incentive for women to live a long time.
The theologian who labours without joy is not a theologian at all.
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