Home > Author > William Graham Sumner
81 " What have our ancestors been striving for, under the name of civil liberty, for the last five hundred years? They have been striving to bring it about that each man and woman might live out his or her life according to his or her own notions of happiness and up to the measure of his or her own virtue and wisdom. How "
― William Graham Sumner , The Forgotten Man
82 " A man who is present as a consumer, yet who does not contribute either by land, labor, or capital to the work of society, is a burden. On "
― William Graham Sumner , What Social Classes Owe to Each Other
83 " The men who have not done their duty in this world never can be equal to those who have done their duty more or less well. If "
84 " He drops out of the ranks of workers and producers. Society must support him. It accepts the burden, but he must be cancelled from the ranks of the rulers likewise. So "
85 " Every improvement in education, science, art, or government expands the chances of man on earth. Such expansion is no guarantee of equality. On "
86 " They seem to think that interference is good if only they interfere. In "
87 " That a society of free men, co-operating under contract, is by far the strongest society which has ever yet existed; that "
88 " men who are taught to expect Government inspectors to come and take care of them lose all true education in liberty. If "
89 " THAT A FREE MAN IS A SOVEREIGN, BUT THAT A SOVEREIGN CANNOT TAKE "TIPS. "
90 " Every man in society is bound in nature and reason to contribute to the strength and welfare of society. He ought to work, to be peaceful, honest, just, and virtuous. A "
91 " Every man and woman in society has one big duty. That is, to take care of his or her own self. This is a social duty. For, "
92 " The law of the conservation of energy is not simply a law of physics; it is a law of the whole moral universe, and "
93 " Who dares say that he is not the friend of the poor man? Who dares say that he is the friend of the employer? I "
94 " The danger of minding other people's business is twofold. First, there is the danger that a man may leave his own business unattended to; and, second, there is the danger of an impertinent interference with another's affairs. The "
95 " unless restrained by checks and guarantees. There is an insolence of wealth, as there is an insolence of rank. A plutocracy might be even far worse than an aristocracy. Aristocrats "
96 " We have an instance right at hand. The Negroes, once slaves in the United States, used to be assured care, medicine, and support; but they spent their efforts, and other men took the products. They "
97 " A trades-union is an association of journeymen in a certain trade which has for one of its chief objects to raise wages in that trade. This object can be accomplished only by drawing more capital into the trade, or by lessening the supply of labor in it. To "
98 " Aristocrats have always had their class vices and their class virtues. They have always been, as a class, chargeable with licentiousness and gambling. They have, however, as a class, despised lying and stealing. They "
99 " I am one of humanity, and I do not want any volunteer friends. I regard friendship as mutual, and I want to have my say about it. I "
100 " Some people have resolved to be teetotalers, and they want a law passed to make everybody else a teetotaler. Some people have resolved to eschew luxury, and they want taxes laid to make others eschew luxury. The "