We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it.
Jose MartiRead
He who uses the office he owes to the voters wrongfully and against them is a thief.
Interpretation
Abusing power is akin to stealing from those who placed trust in you.
This quote by José Martí emphasizes the moral responsibility of elected officials to act in the best interest of their constituents. By likening the misuse of political office to theft, Martí underscores the betrayal that occurs when leaders prioritize their own interests over the welfare of the voters who entrusted them with power.
In practice
During a political rally, a speaker could use this quote to emphasize the importance of integrity in leadership.
We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it.
Like bones to the human body, the axle to the wheel, the wing to the bird, and the air to the wing, so is liberty the essence of life. Whatever is done without it is imperfect.
Men have no special right because they belong to one race or another: the word man defines all rights.
Other famous men, those of much talk and few deeds, soon evaporate. Action is the dignity of greatness.
Man is a living duty, a depository of powers that he must not leave in a brute state. Man is a wing.
Like stones rolling down hills, fair ideas reach their objectives despite all obstacles and barriers. It may be possible to speed or hinder them, but impossible to stop them.
There are war-torn countries, people full of poverty, who still voted, 60, 70 percent. If here in the United States of America, we voted at 60 percent, 70 percent, it would transform our politics.
People finally understood that the role of the social-democratic party rests on its conscious leadership of the mass struggle against the existing society, a struggle that must reckon with the vital, necessary conditions of capitalist society.
Who gets the risks? The risks are given to the consumer, the unsuspecting consumer and the poor work force. And who gets the benefits? The benefits are only for the corporations, for the money makers.
Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.
They say, oh, let’s have multiparty politics. Let’s have different parties change and be in charge of the Government. Is it that simple? You vote in a Division Three government, not a Division One government, and the whole economy will just subside within three, four years. Finished.
Every Senator in this Chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This Chamber reeks of blood.
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