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If it had not been for the discontent of a few fellows who had not been satisfied with their conditions, you would still be living in caves. Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.

Eugene V. Debs

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Eugene V. Debs
Age: 70 †
Born: 1855
Born: November 5
Died: 1926
Died: October 20
Peace Activist
Political Leader
Politician
Trade Unionist
Terre Haute
Indiana
Eugene Victor Debs
Eugene Debs
Convict Number 9653
inmate number 9653
9653
Convict No. 9653
Still
Intelligence
Would
Intelligent
Mainspring
Life
Civilization
Agitation
Conditions
Stagnation
Progress
Discontent
Born
Caves
Living
Fellows
Stills
Satisfied

More quotes by Eugene V. Debs

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I do not oppose the insane asylum - but I abhor and condemn the cutthroat system that robs man of his reason, drives him to insanity and makes the lunatic asylum an indispensable adjunct to every civilized community.
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We want a system in which the worker shall get what he produces and the capitalist shall produce what he gets.
Eugene V. Debs
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Solidarity is not a matter of sentiment but a fact, cold and impassive as the granite foundations of a skyscraper. If the basic elements, identity of interest, clarity of vision, honesty of intent, and oneness of purpose, or any of these is lacking, all sentimental pleas for solidarity, and all other efforts to achieve it will be barren of results.
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Anybody can be nobody but it takes a man to be somebody.
Eugene V. Debs
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As a rule, large capitalists are Republicans and small capitalists are Democrats, but workingmen must remember that they are all capitalists, and that the many small ones, like the fewer large ones, are all politically supporting their class interests, and this is always and everywhere the capitalist class.
Eugene V. Debs
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When we are in partnership and have stopped clutching each other's throats, when we have stopped enslaving each other, we will stand together, hands clasped, and be friends. We will be comrades, we will be brothers, and we will begin the march to the grandest civilization the human race has ever known.
Eugene V. Debs
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The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis of civilization. The time has come to regenerate society - we are on the eve of universal change.
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A man should take to himself no discomfort from an opinion expressed or implied by his adversary, but it is difficult, and oftentimes humiliating to attempt to justify the kindness of one's friends.
Eugene V. Debs
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The truth has always been dangerous to the rule of the rogue, the exploiter, the robber. So the truth must be supressed.
Eugene V. Debs
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The rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million.
Eugene V. Debs
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No war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.
Eugene V. Debs
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In all the history of organized labor, from the earliest times to the present day, no body of union workingmen ever served in a more humiliating and debasing role than that in which the railway unions appear at this very hour before the American people and the world.
Eugene V. Debs
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The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the class struggle. They are the political wings of the capitalist system and such differences as arise between them relate to spoils and not to principles.
Eugene V. Debs
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You have got to unite in the same labor union and in the same political party and strike and vote together, and the hour you do that, the world is yours.
Eugene V. Debs
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I have no country to fight for my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world.
Eugene V. Debs
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The general public knows practically nothing about the prison and appears to be little concerned about how it is managed and how prisoners are treated.
Eugene V. Debs
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When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks.
Eugene V. Debs
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Capitalism needs and must have the prison to protect itself from the criminals it has created.
Eugene V. Debs
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Riches are the savings of many in the hands of one.
Eugene V. Debs
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I would no more teach children military training than teach them arson, robbery, or assassination.
Eugene V. Debs