The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.
Interpretation
Progress is measured by how well we care for the less fortunate rather than by how much we accumulate for the wealthy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's quote emphasizes that true progress in society should be assessed not by the wealth and abundance accumulated by the privileged, but by the extent to which we ensure that those in need have their basic requirements met. It challenges common notions of success, urging a focus on equitable distribution and societal welfare, highlighting that helping those with less is a true measure of a communityβs advancement.
In practice
This quote can be used in a charity event speech to emphasize the importance of helping those in need.
There has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, that Americans have considerable industrial power - but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight. ... Let them tell that to the Marines!
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns.
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
A world turned into a stereotype, a society converted into a regiment, a life translated into a routine, make it difficult for either art or artists to survive. Crush individuality in society and you crush art as well. Nourish the conditions of a free life and you nourish the arts, too.
I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence.
Tragedy is like strong acid - it dissolves away all but the very gold of truth.
Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet.
Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.
Character is not cut in marble - it is not something solid and unalterable. It is something living and changing, and may become diseased as our bodies do.
God dwells wherever man lets Him in.
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