It only serves to show what sort of person a man must be who can't even get testimonials. No, no; if a man brings references, it proves nothing; but if he can't, it proves a great deal.
Joseph PulitzerRead
We all want prosperity, but not at the expense of liberty. Poverty is not as great a danger to liberty as is wealth, with its corrupting, demoralizing influences. Let us never have a Government at Washington owing its retention to the power of the millionaires rather than to the will of millions.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True prosperity should not compromise individual freedoms; wealth can corrupt more than poverty.
Joseph Pulitzer stresses that while prosperity is a universal desire, it should not come at the cost of personal liberties. He argues that wealth can carry corrupting influences that threaten democracy and freedom, suggesting that a government should be accountable to its citizens rather than to wealthy elites, thereby highlighting the potential dangers of allowing millionaires too much power in political matters.
Themes
ProsperityLibertyWealthFreedomGovernment
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about economic policy, one might reference this quote to emphasize the need for a government that serves the people's interests.
More from Joseph Pulitzer
All quotes →What a newspaper needs in its news, in its headlines, and on its editorial page is terseness, humor, descriptive power, satire, originality, good literary style, clever condensation, and accuracy, accuracy, accuracy!
Joseph PulitzerRead
Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
Joseph PulitzerRead
If you will give the matter a moment's thought, you'll see that memory is the highest faculty of the human mind.
Joseph PulitzerRead
An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery
Joseph PulitzerRead
The American people want something terse, forcible, picturesque, striking - something that will arrest their attention, enlist their sympathy, arouse their indignation, stimulate their imagination, convince their reason, awaken their conscience.
Joseph PulitzerRead
Similar quotes
The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don't acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.
Kurt VonnegutRead
It is only common sense to recognize that the great bulk of Americans, whether Republican or Democrat, face many common problems and agree on a number of basic objectives.
Dwight D. EisenhowerRead
When it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, I will take no options off the table. ... That includes all elements of American power: a political effort aimed at isolating Iran, a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and ensure that the Iranian program is monitored, an economic effort that imposes crippling sanctions and, yes, a military effort to be prepared for any contingency.
Barack ObamaRead
A day will come when our children and grandchildren will look back and they'll ask one of two questions. Either they will ask: "what in God's name were they doing?" or they may look back and say: "how did they find the uncommon moral courage to rise above politics and redeem the promise of American democracy?"
Al GoreRead
If I was to interrupt this article every few sentences, asking you whether or not I was making a good impression on you, I hope and believe that you would think I was a servile jerk. Yet this is what our politicians are doing in every speech.
Christopher HitchensRead
Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.
Gore VidalRead