quotations about equality
It is not true that equality is a law of nature. Nature has made nothing equal; her sovereign law is subordination and dependence.
LUC DE CLAPIERS
Réflexions et Maximes
The first great political truth to be impressed on the minds of our youth is, that they are born free, and that no acts of legislation should deprive them of perfect equality in rights. This principle will constantly stimulate those of humble birth to compete with with favorites of fortune, and teach them that without personal merit, no one can have just claims to honorable distinction.
ISAAC S. SMITH
letter, Sep. 29, 1836
We know that the doctrine of equality leads by steps not only logical, but almost mechanical, to sacrifice the principle of liberty to the principle of quantity; that, being unable to abdicate responsibility and power, it attacks genuine representation, and, as there is no limit where there is no control, invades, sooner or later, both property and religion.
LORD ACTON
letter to Mary Gladstone, December 14, 1880
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
UNITED NATIONS
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1
Never, till woman stands side by side with man, his equal in the eye of the law as well as the Creator, will the high destiny of the race be accomplished.
C. L. SHOLES
The Liberator, May 1856
That all men are equal is a proposition which at ordinary times no sane individual has ever given his assent.
ALDOUS HUXLEY
Proper Studies
Equality is the share of every one at their advent upon earth, and equality is also theirs, when placed beneath it.
NINON DE L'ENCLOS
attributed, Day's Collacon
All men are born equal, but some of them outgrow it.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together, but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson
I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
Holmes-Laski Letters
All men are by nature equal, all made of the same earth by one Workman; and however we may deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.
PLATO
attributed, Day's Collacon
Equality is the life of conversation; and he is as much out who assumes to himself any part above another, as he who considers himself below the rest of the society.
RICHARD STEELE
The Tatler, No. 225
Being useful to others is not the same thing as being equal.
N.K. JEMISIN
The Obelisk Gate
I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.
MAHATMA GANDHI
attributed, The Photographer's Vision
Among unequals what society
Can sort, what harmony, or true delight?
JOHN MILTON
Paradise Lost
If all things were equally in all men, nothing would be prized.
THOMAS HOBBES
Leviathan
Equality is one of the most consummate scoundrels that ever crept from the brain of a political juggler; a fellow who thrusts his hand into the pocket of honest industry or enterprising talent, and squanders their hard-earned profits on profligate idleness or indolent stupidity.
L. LANGSTAFF
attributed, Day's Collacon
Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
THUCYDIDES
History of the Peloponnesian War
Nothing is so unequal as equality.
PLINY THE ELDER
attributed, Day's Collacon
No one enjoys being equal.
DAVID MAMET
Goldberg Street: Short Plays and Monologues