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I think the first duty of society is justice.

Wendell Phillips

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Wendell Phillips
Age: 72 †
Born: 1811
Born: November 29
Died: 1884
Died: February 2
Jurist
Lawyer
Politician
Boston
Massachusetts
Society
Inspirational
Firsts
First
Think
Duty
Justice

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Revolutions are not made, they come.
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Immoral laws are doubtless void, and should not be obeyed.
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Organize, and stand together. Claim something together, and at once let the nation hear a united demand from the laboring voice, and then, when you have got that, go on after another but get something.
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What gunpowder did for war the printing press has done for the mind.
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Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics.
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To be as good as our fathers we must be better, imitation is not discipleship.
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Republics exist only on the tenure of being constantly agitated.... There is no republican road to safety but in constant distrust.
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Statutes are mere milestone, telling how far yesterday's thought had traveled and the talk of the sidewalk today is the law of the land. With us, law in nothing unless close behind it stands a warm, living public opinion.
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War and Niagara thunder to a music of their own.
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On a single winged word hath hung the destiny of nations.
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Do not take the yardstick of your ignorance to measure what the ancients knew, and call everything which you do not know lies. Do not call things untrue because they are marvelous, but give them a fair consideration.
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You can always get the truth from an American statesman after he has turned seventy, or given up all hope of the Presidency.
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Two kinds of men generally best succeed in political life men of no principle, but of great talent and men of no talent, but of one principle - that of obedience to their superiors.
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Many men know how to flatter, few men know how to praise.
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Every government is always growing corrupt.
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I will utter what I believe today, if it should contradict all I said yesterday.
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Agitation prevents rebellion, keeps the peace, and secures progress. Every step she gains is gained forever. Muskets are the weapons of animals. Agitation is the atmosphere of the brains.
Wendell Phillips
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Government began in tyranny and force, began in the feudalism of the soldier and bigotry of the priest and the ideas of justice and humanity have been fighting their way, like a thunderstorm, against the organized selfishness of human nature.
Wendell Phillips
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The Puritan's idea of hell is a place where everybody has to mind his own business.
Wendell Phillips
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What gunpowder did for war, the printing-press has done for the mind and the statesman is no longer clad in the steel of special education, but every reading man is his judge.
Wendell Phillips