The ugliness of bigotry stands in direct contradiction to the very meaning of America.
Interpretation
Bigotry opposes the core values of America, which are rooted in acceptance and diversity.
This quote emphasizes that bigotry, characterized by intolerance and discrimination, is fundamentally opposed to the ideals of America, which celebrates diversity, equality, and freedom. It asserts that true understanding of the American spirit is incompatible with prejudice, highlighting the importance of embracing and respecting the differences that enrich society.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech advocating for civil rights and social justice.
It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.
Much of our American progress has been the product of the individual who had an idea; pursued it; fashioned it; tenaciously clung to it against all odds; and then produced it, sold it, and profited from it.
We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit.
You cannot go around and keep score. If you keep score on the good things and the bad things, you'll find out that you're a very miserable person. God gave man the ability to forget, which is one of the greatest attributes you have. Because if you remember everything that's happened to you, you generally remember that which is the most unfortunate.
Here we are the way politics ought to be in America; the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose and the politics of joy.
The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a mater-architect; in execution, the labors of many.
There are many different ways to be poor in the world but increasingly there seems to be one single way to be rich.
A lot of the stuff about white-supremacist groups was very family-friendly: 'We just love our people.' One the surface, you go, 'Gee, what's wrong with loving your people?' But when you love your people to the exclusion of everything else that's remotely different, that's when you get into trouble.
Let but the public mind become once thoroughly corrupt, and all attempts to secure property, liberty or life, by mere force of laws written on parchment, will be as vain as to put up printed notices in an orchard to keep off the canker-worms.
There have been household gods and household saints and household fairies. I am not sure that there have yet been any factory gods or factory saints or factory fairies. I may be wrong, as I am no commericial expert, but I have not heard of them as yet.
I suffer from life and from other people. I canβt look at reality face to face. Even the sun discourages and depresses me. Only at night and all alone, withdrawn, forgotten and lost, with no connection to anything real or useful β only then do I find myself and feel comforted.
To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to revolt.
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