If there be no right of rebellion against a state of things that no savage tribe would endure without resistance, then I am sure that it is better for men to fight and die without right than to live in such a state of right as this.
Interpretation
This quote conveys the idea that fighting against injustice, even if it leads to death, is preferable to living under unbearable conditions.
Roger Casement's quote expresses a powerful sentiment regarding the moral obligation to resist oppression and injustice. He emphasizes that if a situation is so intolerable that even the most primitive societies would reject it, then fighting against such conditions, even without a legitimate right, is more honorable than accepting a life of misery and subjugation. This reflects a deep understanding of human dignity and the necessity of standing up for one's beliefs.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech at a human rights rally to inspire action against oppression.
I've always felt that if you back down from a fear, the ghost of that fear never goes away. It diminishes people. So I've always said 'yes' to the thing I'm most scared about. The fear of letting myself down - of saying 'no' to something that I was afraid of and then sitting in my room later going, 'I wish I'd had the guts to say this or that' - that galvanizes me more than anything.
I demanded more rights for women because I know what women had to put up with.
For years and years, I convinced myself that I was unbreakable, an animal with an animal strength or something not human at all. Me, I told people, I take damage like a wall, a brick wall that never falls down, never feels anything, never flinches or remembers. I am one woman but I carry in my body all the stories I have ever been told, women I have known, women who have taken damage until they tell themselves they can feel no pain at all.
As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such a twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of darkness.
Martial arts in general were not made for a tournament, for points system. Martial arts were made to defend yourself in the street fight situation, not to score points.
To conquer the command in the air means victory; to be beaten in the air means defeat.
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