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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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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
Opinion
Implied
Friends
Humiliating
Adversaries
Difficult
Discomfort
Take
Expressed
Men
Justify
Attempt
Adversary
Kindness
Oftentimes

More quotes by Eugene V. Debs

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If I were hungry and friendless today, I would rather take my chances with a saloon-keeper than with the average preacher.
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.
Eugene V. Debs
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Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.
Eugene V. Debs
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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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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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In the very progress of society, the prison has in the very nature of things undergone some improvement, but there are vast stretches yet to be covered before the prison becomes, if it ever does, an institution for the reclamation and rehabilitation of erring and unfortunate men and women.
Eugene V. Debs
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The people can have anything they want, the only problem is they do not want anything.
Eugene V. Debs
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I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.
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
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I may not be able to say all I think but I am not going to say anything I do not think.
Eugene V. Debs
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A prison is a cross section of society in which every human strain is clearly revealed.
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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Thousands of years ago the question was asked: Am I my brother's keeper? That question has never yet been answered in a way that is satisfactory to civilized society.
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 prison, above all others, should be the most human of institutions.
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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Wherever capitalism appears, in pursuit of its mission of exploitation, there will Socialism, fertilized by misery, watered by tears, and vitalized by agitation be also found, unfurling its class-struggle banner and proclaiming its mission of emancipation.
Eugene V. Debs
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I do not want you to follow me or anyone else if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out.
Eugene V. Debs
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Too long have the workers of the world waited for some Moses to lead them out of bondage... I would not lead you out if I could for if you could be led out, you could be led back again. I would have you make up your minds there is nothing that you cannot do for yourselves.
Eugene V. Debs
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If the people would but analyze the human equation of a prison they might better account for the crimes that are visited upon them in cities, towns, and hamlets, ofttimes by men who graduated with an education and equipment for just that sort of retributive service from some penal institution.
Eugene V. Debs