Doing for people what they can and ought to do for themselves is a dangerous experiment. In the last analysis, the welfare of the workers depends upon their own initiative. Whatever is done under the guise of philanthropy or social morality which in any way lessens initiative is the greatest crime that can be committed against the toilers. Let social busybodies and professional "public morals experts" in their fads reflect upon the perils they rashly invite under this pretense of social welfare.
Interpretation
Helping others is valuable, but undermining their self-initiative can have harmful consequences.
This quote emphasizes the importance of individual initiative and self-reliance in promoting the welfare of workers. Samuel Gompers warns against well-intentioned actions that may inadvertently diminish a person's ability to help themselves, arguing that such actions can lead to detrimental outcomes for society as a whole. The quote critiques interventions that, despite being labeled as philanthropy or social good, ultimately hinder personal responsibility and autonomy.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about empowerment in the workplace.
There may be here and there a worker who for certain reasons unexplainable to us does not join a union of labor. That is his right. It is his legal right, no matter how morally wrong he may be. It is his legal right, and no one can or dare question his exercise of that legal right.
Time is the most valuable thing on earth: time to think, time to act, time to extend our fraternal relations, time to become better men, time to become better women, time to become better and more independent citizens.
One fact stands out in bold relief in the history of man's attempts for betterment. That is that when compulsion is used, only resentment is aroused, and the end is not gained. Only through moral suasion and appeal to man's reason can a movement succeed.
There is not a right too long denied to which we do not aspire in order to achieve; there is not a wrong too long endured that we are not determined to abolish.
Show me the country that has no strikes and I'll show you the country in which there is no liberty.
If at times our actions seem to make life difficult for others, it is only because history has made life difficult for us all.
When the prophet, a complacent fat man, Arrived at the mountain-top He cried: "Woe to my knowledge! I intended to see good white lands And bad black lands— But the scene is grey.
Chances are, if you are following the crowd, you're following the wrong path.
We are descended from a people whose government was founded on liberty; our glorious forefathers of Great Britain made liberty the foundation of everything. That country is become a great, mighty, and splendid nation; not because their government is strong and energetic, but, sir, because liberty is its direct end and foundation.
The most agonising thing is to drop doubt into a man about his being a reality, three-dimensional - and not some other kind of reality.
Every cloud engenders not a storm.
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