# Quotes about equality

- Quotes: 133
- Authors: 85
- Broader topic: [Quotes about society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md)
- Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality
- JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.json

## Quotes

> Trojan and Tyrian I shall treat with no distinction.

[Virgil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil.md) · [The Aeneid](https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-aeneid.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/virgil/the-aeneid/trojan-and-tyrian.md)

Topics: [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I know very well that we are not all equal, nor can be so; but it is my opinion that he who deems it important to keep aloof from the so-called rabble in order to maintain their respect is as culpable as a coward who hides himself from his enemy because he fears defeat.

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe.md) · [The Sorrows of Young Werther](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-sorrows-of-young-werther.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-sorrows-of-young-werther/i-know-very.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Water belongs to us all. Nature did not make the sun one person's property, nor air, nor water, cool and clear.

[Ovid](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid.md) · [Metamorphoses](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/water-belongs-to-us-all.md)

Topics: [nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions.

[Aristotle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle.md) · [The Politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics/inferiors-revolt-in-order.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/revolution.md)

> [W]e are just the same—I am only a little girl like you. It's just an accident that I am not you, and you are not me!

[Frances Hodgson Burnett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frances-hodgson-burnett.md) · [A Little Princess](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frances-hodgson-burnett/a-little-princess.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frances-hodgson-burnett/a-little-princess/w-e-are-just.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md)

> "His father was killed in a war several years ago, and Eliar became his mother’s only support. [...] [His] mother needed his soldier’s pay to keep eating. [...] Your father was unlucky enough to get in his way while he was showing his veneration for his parents. Isn’t that sort of what you were doing when you were planning to kill him before Althalus came along?”
>
> “It’s not the same thing at all, Bheid [...] My father was the Aryo of Osthos. Eliar’s father was just a common soldier.”
>
> “And do you believe that Eliar loved his father less than you loved yours? We all love and revere our parents, Andine, and the peasant or common soldier loves—and grieves—as deeply as the aristocrat. You might want to think about that just a bit before you launch yourself into your next tirade.”

[David Eddings](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings.md) · [The Redemption of Althalus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/his-father-was.md)

Topics: [parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Finally resuming the chair at my desk I feel in keen sympathy with my fellow-creatures, for I seem to see clearly again that all are akin. The racial lines, which once were bitterly real, now serve nothing more than marking out a living mosaic of human beings. And even here men of the same color are like the ivory keys of one instrument where each resembles all the rest, yet varies from them in pitch and quality of voice. And those creatures who are for a time mere echoes of another's note are not unlike the fable of the thin sick man whose distorted shadow, dressed like a real creature, came to the old master to make him follow as a shadow. Thus with a compassion for all echoes in human guise, I greet the solemn-faced "native preacher" whom I find awaiting me. I listen with respect for God's creature, though he mouth most strangely the jangling phrases of a bigoted creed.

[Zitkala-Sa](https://www.leafyquotes.com/zitkala-sa.md) · [American Indian Stories](https://www.leafyquotes.com/zitkala-sa/american-indian-stories.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/zitkala-sa/american-indian-stories/finally-resuming-the.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion.md)

> Democracy in crime was turning out no different from democracies everywhere: a sublime idea in theory, soiled by the reality that deep down nobody really believes that all men are created equal.

[Steve Toltz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz.md) · [A Fraction Of The Whole](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/democracy-in-crime.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> In the hot and stormy future we have already made inevitable through our past emissions, an unshakable belief in the equal rights of all people and a capacity for deep compassion will be the only things standing between civilization and barbarism. p. 462

[Naomi Klein](https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-klein.md) · [This Changes Everything](https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-klein/this-changes-everything.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-klein/this-changes-everything/in-the-hot.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion.md)

> Adah could not stop thinking about her discovery that the whites were just as fallible as everyone else. There were bad whites and good whites, just as there were bad blacks and good blacks! Why then did they claim to be superior?

[Buchi Emecheta](https://www.leafyquotes.com/buchi-emecheta.md) · [Second-Class Citizen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/buchi-emecheta/second-class-citizen.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/buchi-emecheta/second-class-citizen/adah-could-not.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [racism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism.md)

> By the end of it, I had finally begun to grasp something that should have been immediately apparent: that someone had opposed the great march toward equality; someone had been the person from whom freedom had to be wrested.

[Tara Westover](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover.md) · [Educated](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover/educated.md) · p. 180 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover/educated/by-the-end.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Man, are you capable of being just? It is a woman who poses the question, you will not deprive her of that right at least. Tell me, what gives you sovereign over empire to oppress my sex? Your strength? Your talents?

[Olympe de Gouges](https://www.leafyquotes.com/olympe-de-gouges.md) · [The Declaration of the Rights of Women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/olympe-de-gouges/the-declaration-of-the-rights-of-women.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/olympe-de-gouges/the-declaration-of-the-rights-of-women/man-are-you.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Article 1. Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights. Social distinctions can be based only on the common utility.

[Olympe de Gouges](https://www.leafyquotes.com/olympe-de-gouges.md) · [The Declaration of the Rights of Women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/olympe-de-gouges/the-declaration-of-the-rights-of-women.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/olympe-de-gouges/the-declaration-of-the-rights-of-women/article-1-woman.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Equal wealth and equal opportunities of culture... have simply made us all members of one class.

[Edward Bellamy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-bellamy.md) · [Looking Backward](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-bellamy/looking-backward.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-bellamy/looking-backward/equal-wealth-and.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> To me, my Judaism means an obligation to pay attention to equality and the rights of minority groups.

[Jason Stanley](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jason-stanley.md) · [How Fascism Works](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jason-stanley/how-fascism-works.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jason-stanley/how-fascism-works/to-me-my-judaism.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> For this was the real desert where differences of race and colour, of wealth and social standing, are almost meaningless; where coverings of pretence are stripped away and basic truths emerge.

[Wilfred Thesiger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger.md) · [Arabian Sands](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands.md) · p. 21 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands/for-this-was.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Our two most basic political ideals—liberty and equality—are, in their purest forms, incompatible. Complete liberty results in inequality, and mandatory equality leads to a loss of liberty.

[John Allen Paulos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos.md) · [A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper.md) · p. 7 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper/our-two-most.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> The big men in the other boat crews would always make good-natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim. But somehow these little guys, from every corner of the nation and the world, always had the last laugh, swimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us. SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed; not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education, and not your social status. If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

[William H. McRaven](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcraven.md) · [Make Your Bed: A Daily Journal](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcraven/make-your-bed-a-daily-journal.md) · p. 114 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-h-mcraven/make-your-bed-a-daily-journal/the-big-men.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [perseverance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perseverance.md)

> We have evolved. But our ideas of gender have not evolved very much.

[Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie.md) · [We Should All Be Feminists](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/we-should-all-be-feminists.md) · p. 17 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/we-should-all-be-feminists/we-have-evolved.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> [T]he modern world fails to square liberty with equality.

[Yuval Noah Harari](https://www.leafyquotes.com/yuval-noah-harari.md) · [Sapiens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/yuval-noah-harari/sapiens.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/yuval-noah-harari/sapiens/t-he-modern-world.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> But he was fighting for the dignity of man and in that way he was fighting for himself. If men were equal in America, all these former Poles and English and Czechs and lacks, then they were equal everywhere, and there was really no such thing as a foreigner; there were only free men and slaves. And so it was not even patriotism but a new faith. The Frenchman may fight for France, but the American fights for mankind, for freedom; for the people, not the land.

[Michael Shaara](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-shaara.md) · [The Killer Angels](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-shaara/the-killer-angels.md) · p. 29 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-shaara/the-killer-angels/but-he-was.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> "Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here's a place to build a home. It isn't the land-there's always more land. it's the idea that we all have value, you and me, we're worth something more than the dirt. I never saw dirt I'd die for, but I'm not asking you to come join us and fight for dirt. What we're all fighting for, in the end, is each other."

[Michael Shaara](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-shaara.md) · [The Killer Angels](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-shaara/the-killer-angels.md) · p. 32 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-shaara/the-killer-angels/here-we-judge.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [dignity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity.md)

> This is the first principle of democracy: that the essential things in men are the things they hold in common, not the things they hold separately. And the second principle is merely this: that the political instinct or desire is one of these things which they hold in common.

[G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Orthodoxy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy/this-is-the.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> The great and the humble have the same misfortunes, the same griefs, the same passions; but the one is at the top of the wheel, and the other near the center, and so less disturbed by the same revolutions.

[Blaise Pascal](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal.md) · [Pensees](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/the-great-and.md)

Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> We do not believe ourselves to be exactly sharing in the vices of the vulgar, when we see that we are sharing in those of great men; and yet we do not observe that in these matters they are ordinary men. We hold on to them by the same end by which they hold on to the rabble; for, however exalted they are, they are still united at some point to the lowest of men. They are not suspended in the air, quite removed from our society. No, no; if they are greater than we, it is because their heads are higher; but their feet are as low as ours. They are all on the same level, and rest on the same earth; and by that extremity they are as low as we are, as the meanest folk, as infants, and as the beasts.

[Blaise Pascal](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal.md) · [Pensees](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/we-do-not.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> A city of silence and truth, where success and failure, murderer and victim, come together, where thieves and policemen lie side by side in peace for the first and last time.

[Naguib Mahfouz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/naguib-mahfouz.md) · [The Thief and the Dogs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/naguib-mahfouz/the-thief-and-the-dogs.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/naguib-mahfouz/the-thief-and-the-dogs/a-city-of-silence.md)

Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> "Once brought face to face, man to man, with an individual of the masses around him, and (take notice) out of the character of master and workman, in the first instance, they had each begun to recognise that 'we have all of us one human heart.' "

[Elizabeth Gaskell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell.md) · [North and South](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell/north-and-south.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell/north-and-south/once-brought-face.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md)

> On the gallows tree, all men are brothers.

[George RR Martin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin.md) · [A Feast for Crows](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-feast-for-crows.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-feast-for-crows/on-the-gallows.md)

Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> It was as if the whole western mind-training of individual differences had been made background instead of figure, so that you'd look at another human being and say, "Here we are." You'd see differences more as clothing, rather than as core stuff.

[Ram Dass](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass.md) · [Be Here Now](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now/it-was-as-if-the.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Egalitarianism seems to be rooted more in the hatred of domination than in the love of equality per se.

[Jonathan Haidt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt.md) · [The Righteous Mind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt/the-righteous-mind.md) · p. 209 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt/the-righteous-mind/egalitarianism-seems-to-be-rooted.md)

Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Unlike what neo-liberals say, market and democracy clash at a fundamental level. Democracy runs on the principle of 'one man (one person), one vote'. The market runs on the principle of 'one dollar, one vote'. Naturally, the former gives equal weight to each person, regardless of the money she/he has. The latter give greater weight to richer people. Therefore, democratic decisions usually subvert the logic of market.

[Ha-Joon Chang](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang.md) · [Bad Samaritans](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang/bad-samaritans.md) · p. 172 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ha-joon-chang/bad-samaritans/unlike-what-neo-liberals.md)

Topics: [money](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money.md), [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Reg NMS was intended to create equality of opportunity in the U.S. stock market. Instead it institutionalized a more pernicious inequality. A small class of insiders with the resources to create speed were now allowed to preview the market and trade on what they had seen.

[Michael Lewis](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis.md) · [Flash Boys](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis/flash-boys.md) · p. 98 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis/flash-boys/reg-nms-was.md)

Topics: [law](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> The U.S. stock market was now a class system, rooted in speed, of haves and have-nots. The haves paid for nanoseconds; the have-nots had no idea that a nanosecond had value. The haves enjoyed a perfect view of the market; the have-nots never saw the market at all. What had once been the world’s most public, most democratic, financial market had become, in spirit, something like a private viewing of a stolen work of art.

[Michael Lewis](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis.md) · [Flash Boys](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis/flash-boys.md) · p. 69 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis/flash-boys/the-u-s-stock.md)

Topics: [money](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> The meaning of the word “feminist” has not really changed since it first appeared in a book review in the Athenaeum of April 27, 1895, describing a woman who “has in her the capacity of fighting her way back to independence.” It is the basic proposition that, as Nora put it in Ibsen's A Doll's House a century ago, “Before everything else I'm a human being.” It is the simply worded sign hoisted by a little girl in the 1970 Women's Strike for Equality: I AM NOT A BARBIE DOLL. Feminism asks the world to recognize at long last that women aren't decorative ornaments, worthy vessels, members of a “special-interest group”. They are half (in fact, now more than half) of the national population, and just as deserving of rights and opportunities, just as capable of participating in the world's events, as the other half. Feminism's agenda is basic It asks that women not be forced to “choose” between public justice and private happiness. It asks that women be free to define themselves — instead of having their identity defined for them, time and again, by their culture and their men.

[Susan Faludi](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-faludi.md) · [Backlash](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-faludi/backlash.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-faludi/backlash/the-meaning-of-the.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Among the swans there is none called the least,
>
> or the greatest.

[Mary Oliver](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-oliver.md) · [Evidence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-oliver/evidence.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-oliver/evidence/among-the-swans.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> The famous dictum which states that all men are equal will find its illustration in the colonies only when the colonized subject states he is equal to the colonist.

[Frantz Fanon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon.md) · [The Wretched of the Earth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon/the-wretched-of-the-earth.md) · p. 9 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon/the-wretched-of-the-earth/the-famous-dictum.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [colonialism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/colonialism.md)

> If all were equalized by death, as the medieval idea constantly emphasized, was it not possible that inequalities on earth were contrary to the will of God?

[Barbara W. Tuchman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman.md) · [A Distant Mirror](https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror.md) · p. 375 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/if-all-were.md)

Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Any society which gives lip-service to the idea of equal opportunity is going to generate jealousy of others who are better off than you are, even if the thing that’s in short supply can’t be carved up and shared without destroying it.

[John Brunner](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner.md) · [Stand On Zanzibar](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar/any-society-which.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [jealousy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/jealousy.md)

> "Sometimes it comes down to a choice. Between saving one person and saving the whole world. I've seen it happen, and I'm selfish enough to want the person who loves me to choose me. But Nephilim will always choose the world. I look at Alec and I feel like Lucifer in Paradise Lost. "Abashed the Devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is." He meant it in the classic sense. 'Awful' as in inspiring awe. And awe is well and good, but it's poison to love. Love has to be between equals."

[Cassandra Clare](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare.md) · [City of Heavenly Fire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare/city-of-heavenly-fire.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare/city-of-heavenly-fire/sometimes-it-comes.md)

Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [sacrifice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice.md)

> A human being will accept the strictest disciplinary measures with a better grace if he knows that they will fall with equal severity on his neighbor. Justice in some mysterious way makes up for violence.

[Stefan Zweig](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig.md) · [Beware of Pity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig/beware-of-pity.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig/beware-of-pity/a-human-being.md)

Topics: [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> There is one law for rich and poor alike, which prevents them equally from stealing bread and sleeping under bridges.

[Jo Walton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton.md) · [Farthing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton/farthing.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton/farthing/there-is-one.md)

Topics: [irony](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony.md), [law](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> “I don’t need to be a radical to think that who a dragon is counts more than birth or wealth,” Selendra said, with what dignity she could.
>
> “Why, that’s the very definition of a radical,” he retorted.

[Jo Walton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton.md) · [Tooth and Claw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton/tooth-and-claw.md) · p. 260 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jo-walton/tooth-and-claw/i-dont-need.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> No regime—no “socio-economic system”—is able to satisfy all men in all places. This includes liberal democracy. This is not a matter of the incompleteness of the democratic revolution, that is, because the blessings of liberty and equality have not been extended to all people. Rather, the dissatisfaction arises precisely where democracy has triumphed most completely: it is a dissatisfaction with liberty and equality.

[Francis Fukuyama](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama.md) · [The End of History and the Last Man](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man.md) · p. 334 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-fukuyama/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man/no-regime-no-socio-economic.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> A man is free to go up as high as he can reach up to; but I, with all my style and pep, can't get a man my equal because a girl is always judged by her mother.

[Anzia Yezierska](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anzia-yezierska.md) · [Hungry Hearts](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anzia-yezierska/hungry-hearts.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anzia-yezierska/hungry-hearts/a-man-is-free.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [mother](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mother.md)

> I am satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever the sex of the author may be. All novels are, or should be, written for both men and women to read, and I am at loss to conceive how a man should permit himself to write anything that would be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming for a man.

[Anne Brontë](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte.md) · [The Tenant of Wildfell Hall](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall/i-am-satisfied.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I tell them that fraternity is a dream, an obscure and uncertain sentiment; that while it is unnatural for a man to hate one whom he does not know, it is equally unnatural to love him. You can build nothing on fraternity. Nor on liberty, either; it is too relative a thing in a society where all the elements subdivide each other by force.
>
> But equality is always the same. Liberty and fraternity are words while equality is a fact. Equality should be the great human formula — social equality, for while individuals have varying values, each must have an equal share in the social life; and that is only just, because the life of one human being is equal to the life of another. That formula is of prodigious importance. The principle of the equal rights of every living being and the sacred will of the majority is infallible and must be invincible; all progress will be brought about by it, all, with a force truly divine. It will bring first the smooth bed-rock of all progress — the settling of quarrels by that justice which is exactly the same thing as the general advantage.

[Henri Barbusse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-barbusse.md) · [Under Fire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-barbusse/under-fire.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-barbusse/under-fire/i-tell-them.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [community](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community.md)

> Democracy is a system of government according to which every member of society is considered as a man and nothing more.

[William Godwin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin.md) · [Enquiry Concerning Political Justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/democracy-is-a-system.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Mankind will never be, in an eminent degree, virtuous and happy till each man shall possess that portion of distinction and no more, to which he is entitled by his personal merits. The dissolution of aristocracy is equally the interest of the oppressor and the oppressed. The one will be delivered from the listlessness of tyranny, and the other from the brutalizing operation of servitude.

[William Godwin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin.md) · [Enquiry Concerning Political Justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/mankind-will-never.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [tyranny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny.md)

> Men may one day feel that they are partakers of a common nature, and that true freedom and perfect equity, like food and air, are pregnant with benefit to every constitution.

[William Godwin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin.md) · [Enquiry Concerning Political Justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/men-may-one.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> “Democracy 2.0.” He shudders briefly. “I’m not sure about the validity of voting projects at all, these days. The assumption that all people are of equal importance seems frighteningly obsolescent.”

[Charles Stross](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross.md) · [Accelerando](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/accelerando.md) · p. 353 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/accelerando/democracy-2-0-he-shudders.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> There are many pleasant fictions of the law in constant operation, but there is not one so pleasant or practically humorous as that which supposes every man to be of equal value in its impartial eye, and the benefits of all laws to be equally attainable by all men, without the smallest reference to the furniture of their pockets.

[Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [Nicholas Nickleby](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/nicholas-nickleby.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/nicholas-nickleby/there-are-many.md)

Topics: [irony](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony.md), [law](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Alike and Equal are not the same.

[Madeleine L’Engle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle.md) · [A Wrinkle in Time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle/a-wrinkle-in-time.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/madeleine-lengle/a-wrinkle-in-time/alike-and-equal.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [otherness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/otherness.md)

> A woman is handicapped by her sex, and handicaps society, either by slavishly copying the pattern of man’s advance in the professions, or by refusing to compete with man at all.

[Betty Friedan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/betty-friedan.md) · [The Feminine Mystique](https://www.leafyquotes.com/betty-friedan/the-feminine-mystique.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/betty-friedan/the-feminine-mystique/a-woman-is-handicapped.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> A girl should not expect special privileges because of her sex but neither should she 'adjust' to prejudice and discrimination.

[Betty Friedan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/betty-friedan.md) · [The Feminine Mystique](https://www.leafyquotes.com/betty-friedan/the-feminine-mystique.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/betty-friedan/the-feminine-mystique/a-girl-should.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [prejudice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice.md)

> The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one another; it is never the given that confers superiorities: "virtue", as the ancients called it, is defined at the level of "that which depends on us". In both sexes is played out the same drama of the flesh and the spirit, of finitude and transcendence; both are gnawed away by time and laid in wait for by death, they have the same essential need for one another; and they can gain from their liberty the same glory. If they were to taste it, they would no longer be tempted to dispute fallacious privileges, and fraternity between them could then come into existence.

[Simone de Beauvoir](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir.md) · [The Second Sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex/the-fact-that.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> It is for man to establish the reign of liberty in the midst of the world of the given. To gain the supreme victory, it is necessary, for one thing, that by and through their natural differentiation men and women unequivocally affirm their brotherhood.

[Simone de Beauvoir](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir.md) · [The Second Sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex/it-is-for.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [community](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community.md)

> It is nonsense to assert that revelry, vice, ecstasy, passion, would become impossible if man and woman were equal in concrete matters; the contradictions that put the flesh in opposition to the spirit, the instant to time, the swoon of immanence to the challenge of transcendence, the absolute of pleasure to the nothingness of forgetting, will never be resolved; in sexuality will always be materialised the tension, the anguish, the joy, the frustration, and the triumph of existence. To emancipate woman is to refuse to confine her to the relations she bears to man, not to deny them to her; let her have her independent existence and she will continue none the less to exist for him also: mutually recognising each other as subject, each will yet remain for the other an other. The reciprocity of their relations will not do away with the miracles — desire, possession, love, dream, adventure — worked by the division of human beings into two separate categories; and the words that move us — giving, conquering, uniting — will not lose their meaning. On the contrary, when we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy that it implies, then the 'division' of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form.

[Simone de Beauvoir](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir.md) · [The Second Sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex/it-is-nonsense.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md)

> When an individual (or a group of individuals) is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he is inferior. But the significance of the verb to be must be rightly understood here; it is in bad faith to give it a static value when it really has the dynamic Hegelian sense of "to have become." Yes, women on the whole are today inferior to men; that is, their situation affords them fewer possibilities. The question is: should that state of affairs continue?
>
> Many men hope that it will continue; not all have given up the battle.

[Simone de Beauvoir](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir.md) · [The Second Sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex/when-an-individual.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal — as we are!

[Charlotte Brontë](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte.md) · [Jane Eyre](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/jane-eyre.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/jane-eyre/do-you-think.md)

Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [dignity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity.md)

> Women are supposed to be very calm generally; but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.

[Charlotte Brontë](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte.md) · [Jane Eyre](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/jane-eyre.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/jane-eyre/women-are-supposed.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> My bride is here... because my equal is here, and my likeness.

[Charlotte Brontë](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte.md) · [Jane Eyre](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/jane-eyre.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charlotte-bronte/jane-eyre/my-bride-is-here.md)

Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> We still retain in Britain a deeper sense of class, a more obvious social stratification, and stronger class resentments, than any of the Scandinavian, Australasian, or North American countries.

[Anthony Crosland](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland.md) · [The Future of Socialism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland/the-future-of-socialism.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland/the-future-of-socialism/we-still-retain.md)

Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I am sure that a definite limit exists to the degree of equality which is desirable. We do not want complete equality of incomes, since extra responsibility and exceptional talent require and deserve a differential reward. We are not hostile, as our opponents sometimes foolishly suggest, to 'detached residences in Bournemouth where some elderly woman has obviously more than a thousand a year'. I do not myself want to see all private education disappear; nor the Prime Minister denied an official car, as in one Scandinavian country; nor the Queen riding a bicycle; nor the House of Lords instantly abolished; nor the manufacture of Rolls-Royces banned; nor the Brigade of Guards, nor Oxford and Cambridge, nor Boodle's nor (more doubtfully) the Royal Yacht Squadron, nor even, on a rather lower level, the Milroy Room, lose their present distinctive character; nor anything so dull and colourless as this.

[Anthony Crosland](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland.md) · [The Future of Socialism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland/the-future-of-socialism.md) · p. 149 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland/the-future-of-socialism/i-am-sure.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Objectively, class differences in accent, dress, manners, and general style of life are very much smaller; and one cannot, strolling about the street or travelling on a train, instantly identify a person’s social background as one can in England. Subjectively, social relations are more natural and egalitarian, and less marked by deference, submissiveness, or snobbery, as one quickly discovers from the cab-driver, the barman, the air-hostess and the drug-store assistant.

[Anthony Crosland](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland.md) · [The Future of Socialism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland/the-future-of-socialism.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland/the-future-of-socialism/objectively-class-differences.md)

Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> (The) pattern of consumption is markedly more equal than in Britain. ‘Prestige-goods’ are widely distributed, and there is less conspicuous contrast between the standard of living of different income-groups. To take the most obvious example, almost every family owns a car; and this is significant not only because a car is the most conspicuous of all consumption goods, but also because universal car-ownership leads to the universal consumption of other conspicuous or semi-luxury goods – holidays, hotels, middle-class habits of shopping, etc. But the lack of external class-distinctions can be observed in many other spheres: e.g. clothes, eating-habits, drug-stores, the ownership of consumer durables, and so on.

[Anthony Crosland](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland.md) · [The Future of Socialism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland/the-future-of-socialism.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-crosland/the-future-of-socialism/the-pattern-of-consumption.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [consumerism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consumerism.md)

> “Sir, don’t you think Utah is a special case?”
>
> “Every case has partisans who insist it is special,” Hoover answered. “I recognize none of them. I believe none of them. The same principles must apply throughout the United States.”

[Harry Turtledove](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove.md) · [American Empire: Blood and Iron](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/american-empire-blood-and-iron.md) · p. 457 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/american-empire-blood-and-iron/sir-dont-you.md)

Topics: [law](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Anti-intellectualism … first got its strong grip on our ways of thinking because it was fostered by an evangelical religion that also purveyed many humane and democratic sentiments. It made its way into our politics because it became associated with our passion for equality. It has become formidable in our education partly because our educational beliefs are evangelically egalitarian. Hence, as far as possible, our anti-intellectualism must be excised from the benevolent impulses upon which it lives by constant and delicate acts of intellectual surgery which spare these impulses themselves.

[Richard Hofstadter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter.md) · [Anti-Intellectualism in American Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life.md) · p. 22 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life/anti-intellectualism-first-got.md)

Topics: [intelligence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence.md), [America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> That symbol always reminded me of that historic educational effort called “No child left behind,” which actually meant “No child gets ahead,” for compliance meant dumbing everything down so no one would learn more than the least capable. “Enough for all” really meant “Too little for everybody.”

[Sheri S. Tepper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper.md) · [The Margarets](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets.md) · p. 155 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/that-symbol-always.md)

Topics: [education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I am personally quite convinced that no matter what training or education I might have received, I could never have run a four-minute mile, discovered Gödel's theorems, composed a Beethoven quartet, or risen to any of other innumerable heights of human achievement. I feel in no way demeaned by these inadequacies. It is quite enough that I am capable, as I think any person of normal endowments probably is, of appreciating and in part understanding what others have accomplished, while making my own personal contributions in whatever measure and manner I am able to do so. Human talents vary considerably, within a fixed framework that is characteristic of the species and that permits ample scope for creative work, including the creative work of appreciating the achievements of others. This should be a matter for delight rather than a condition to be abhorred. Those who assume otherwise must be adopting the tacit premise that people's rights or social reward are somehow contingent on their abilities. As for human rights, there is an element of plausibility in this assumption in the single respect already noted: in a decent society, opportunities should conform as far as possible to personal needs, and such needs may be specialized and related to particular talents and capacities. My pleasure in life is enhanced by the fact that others can do many things that I cannot, and I see no reason to want to deny these people the opportunity to cultivate their talents, consistent with general social needs. Difficult questions of practice are sure to arise in any functioning social group, but I see no problem of principle.

[Noam Chomsky](https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky.md) · [The Chomsky Reader](https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/the-chomsky-reader.md) · p. 198 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/the-chomsky-reader/i-am-personally.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [talent](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent.md)

> Every American may have equal access to ice cream, but there's no guarantee that the outcome of eating ice cream will be equal.

[Dan Savage](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-savage.md) · [Skipping Towards Gomorrah](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-savage/skipping-towards-gomorrah.md) · p. 165 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-savage/skipping-towards-gomorrah/every-american-may.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Here the corruption which debases democracies was as unknown as the discontents which undermine the thrones of monarchies. Equality here was not a name; it was a reality. Riches were not persecuted, because they were not envied. Here those problems connected with the labours of a working class, hitherto insoluble above ground, and above ground conducing to such bitterness between classes, were solved by a process the simplest, — a distinct and separate working class was dispensed with altogether. (Chapter XXVI)

[Edward George Bulwer-Lytton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton.md) · [The Coming Race](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton/the-coming-race.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton/the-coming-race/here-the-corruption.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [utopia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/utopia.md)

> Mystic equality lies in abstraction, not in having or in doing, which are processes. In function and process, one man, one part, must of necessity be subordinate to another. It is a condition of being.

[D. H. Lawrence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/d-h-lawrence.md) · [Women In Love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/d-h-lawrence/women-in-love.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/d-h-lawrence/women-in-love/mystic-equality-lies.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> She was grumbling. “The least he could have done was drop us near a town. Although in these parts they’d probably burn us as witches before asking any questions.” She shuddered. “I’m an awful snob about peasants, I’m afraid.”
>
> I mentioned dryly that I thought those of her political persuasion had some sort of egalitarian duty to resist such prejudice. “Egalitarianism isn’t about prejudices,” she said, “it’s about equal shares of power. It’s the only means we have of steering some sort of even course through a future which is forever, by the very nature of the multiverse, unguessable. We have only institutions and a crude, fragile kind of democracy standing between us and absolute Chaos. That is why we must value and protect those institutions. And be forever reexamining them.”

[Michael Moorcock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock.md) · [The Steel Tsar](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar.md) · p. 419 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar/she-was-grumbling.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> But death, fires, and burglary, make all men equals...

[Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [Oliver Twist](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/oliver-twist.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/oliver-twist/but-death-fires.md)

Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Let me tell you a secret. There is a difference between men and women, a little, tiny one that, I’m afraid, has probably made most of your adult life miserable and will probably continue to make it so till you die. The difference is simply that women have only really been treated, by that bizarre, Derkheimian abstraction, “society,” as human beings for the last—oh, say sixty-five years; and then, really, only on the moons; whereas men have had the luxury of such treatment for the last four thousand. The result of this historical anomaly is simply that, on a statistical basis, women are just a little less willing to put up with certain kinds of shit than men—simply because the concept of a certain kind of shit-free Universe is, in that equally bizarre Jungian abstraction, the female “collective unconscious,” too new and too precious.

[Samuel R. Delany](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany.md) · [Triton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/triton.md) · p. 252 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/triton/let-me-tell.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I was thinking about what I said to you about customs and morals keeping people apart, making them different from one another. People are so much more alike than different. So much more.

[Samuel R. Delany](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany.md) · [City of a Thousand Suns](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/city-of-a-thousand-suns.md) · p. 327 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/city-of-a-thousand-suns/i-was-thinking.md)

Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> "I think it is so glorious," said the American. "There is no such mischievous nonsense in all the world as equality. That is what father says. What men ought to want is liberty."

[Anthony Trollope](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope.md) · [The Duke's Children](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope/the-dukes-children.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope/the-dukes-children/i-think-it.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> “The truth is that the public has done one of those startling and amazing things that they do about once in a hundred years. They’ve seized an idea.”
>
> “What is it?”
>
> “That however the brains and abilities of men may differ, their stomachs are essentially the same.”

[F.Scott Fitzgerald](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fscott-fitzgerald.md) · [This Side of Paradise](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fscott-fitzgerald/this-side-of-paradise.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/fscott-fitzgerald/this-side-of-paradise/the-truth-is-that.md)

Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.

[Harper Lee](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee.md) · [To Kill a Mockingbird](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird/i-think-theres.md)

Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal — there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honourable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levellers, and in our courts all men are created equal.

[Harper Lee](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee.md) · [To Kill a Mockingbird](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird/but-there-is-one.md)

Topics: [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md), [law](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.

[Paul R. Krugman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-r-krugman.md) · [The Conscience of a Liberal](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-r-krugman/the-conscience-of-a-liberal.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-r-krugman/the-conscience-of-a-liberal/i-believe-in-a-relatively.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I submit that love is essentially a much simpler phenomenon – it becomes complicated, corrupted, or obstructed by an unequal balance of power. We have seen that love demands a mutual vulnerability or it turns destructive: the destructive effects of love occur only in a context of inequality. But because sexual inequality has remained a constant – however its degree may have varied – the corruption 'romantic' love became characteristic of love between the sexes.

[Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 130 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/i-submit-that-love.md)

Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Self-regulation is the basis of freedom, and dependence the origin of inequality.

[Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 97 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/self-regulation-is-the.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> If any revolutionary movement can succeed at establishing an egalitarian structure, radical feminism will.

[Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 39 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/if-any-revolutionary.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md)

> Sex class is so deep as to be invisible. Or it may appear as a superficial inequality, one that can be solved by merely a few reforms, or perhaps by the full integration of women into the labour force. But the reaction of the common man, woman, and child - 'That? Why you can't change that! You must be out of your mind!' - is the closest to the truth. ]

[Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 1 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/sex-class-is-so-deep.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md)

> We must recognize, and loudly proclaim, that every one, whatever his grade in the old society, whether strong or weak, capable or incapable, as, before everything, THE RIGHT TO LIVE, and that society is bound to share amongst all, without exception , the means of existence at its disposal.

[Peter Kropotkin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin.md) · [The Conquest of Bread](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin/the-conquest-of-bread.md) · p. 71 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin/the-conquest-of-bread/we-must-recognize.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> The immense accumulations of fixed capital which, to the great benefit of mankind, were built up during the half century before the war, could never have come about in a Society where wealth was divided equitably.

[John Maynard Keynes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes.md) · [The Economic Consequences of the Peace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes/the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace.md) · p. 19 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes/the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace/the-immense-accumulations.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [capitalism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism.md)

> We are not yet speaking about equality if we have not yet spoken about equal grievability, or the equal attribution of grievability. Grievability is a defining feature of equality. Those whose grievability is not assumed are those who suffer inequality—unequal value.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 108 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/we-are-not.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [grief](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/grief.md)

> The ethical stand of nonviolence has to be linked to a commitment to radical equality. And more specifically, the practice of nonviolence requires an opposition to biopolitical forms of racism and war logics that regularly distinguish lives worth safeguarding from those that are not—populations conceived as collateral damage, or as obstructions to policy and military aims.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 62 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/the-ethical-stand.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [pacifism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pacifism.md)

> Nonviolence is less a failure of action than a physical assertion of the claims of life, a living assertion, a claim that is made by speech, gesture, and action, through networks, encampments, and assemblies; all of these seek to recast the living as worthy of value, as potentially grievable, precisely under conditions in which they are either erased from view or cast into irreversible forms of precarity. When the precarious expose their living status to those powers that threaten their very lives, they engage a form of persistence that holds the potential to defeat one of the guiding aims of violent power—namely, to cast those on the margins as dispensable, to push them beyond the margins into the zone of non-being, to use Fanon’s phrase. When nonviolent movements work within the ideals of , it is the equal claim to a livable and grievable life that serves as a guiding social ideal, one that is fundamental to an ethics and politics of nonviolence that moves beyond the legacy of individualism. It opens up a new consideration of social freedom as defined in part by our constitutive interdependency. An egalitarian imaginary is required for such a struggle—one that reckons with the potential for destruction in every living bond. Violence against the other is, in this sense, violence against oneself, something that becomes clear when we recognize that violence assaults the living interdependency that is, or should be, our social world.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 24 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/nonviolence-is-less.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [pacifism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pacifism.md)

> Nonviolence does not make sense without a commitment to equality. The reason why nonviolence requires a commitment to equality can best be understood by considering that in this world some lives are more clearly valued than others, and that this inequality implies that certain lives will be more tenaciously defended than others. If one opposes the violence done to human lives—or, indeed, to other living beings—this presumes that it is because those lives are valuable. Our opposition affirms those lives as valuable. If they were to be lost as a result of violence, that loss would be registered as a loss only because those lives were affirmed as having a living value, and that, in turn, means we regard those lives as worthy of grief.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 28 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/nonviolence-does-not-make.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [pacifism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pacifism.md)

> One might expect that a consideration of grievability pertains only to those who are dead, but my contention is that grievability is already operative in life, and that it is a characteristic attributed to living creatures, marking their value within a differential scheme of values and bearing directly on the question of whether or not they are treated equally and in a just way. To be grievable is to be interpellated in such a way that you know your life matters; that the loss of your life would matter; that your body is treated as one that should be able to live and thrive, whose precarity should be minimized, for which provisions for flourishing should be available. The presumption of equal grievability would be not only a conviction or attitude with which another person greets you, but a principle that organizes the social organization of health, food, shelter, employment, sexual life, and civic life.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 59 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/one-might-expect.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [grief](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/grief.md)

> To affirm equality is to affirm a cohabitation defined in part by an interdependency that takes the edge off the individual boundaries of the body, or that works that edge for its social and political potential.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 148 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/to-affirm-equality.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> One reason an egalitarian approach to the value of life is important is that it draws from ideals of radical democracy at the same time that it enters into ethical considerations about how best to practice nonviolence. The institutional life of violence will not be brought down by a prohibition, but only by a counter-institutional ethos and practice.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 61 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/one-reason-an-egalitarian.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> When the world fails us, when we ourselves become worldless in the social sense, the body suffers and shows its precarity; that mode of demonstrating precarity is itself, or carries with it, a political demand and even an expression of outrage. To be a body differentially exposed to harm or to death is precisely to exhibit a form of precarity, but also to suffer a form of inequality that is unjust. So, the situation of many populations who are increasingly subject to unlivable precarity raises for us the question of global obligations. If we ask why any of us should care about those who suffer at a distance from us, the answer is not to be found in paternalistic justifications, but in the fact that we inhabit the world together in relations of interdependency. Our fates are, as it were, given over to one another.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 50 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/when-the-world-fails.md)

Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Lives matter in the sense that they assume physical form within the sphere of appearance; lives matter because they are to be valued equally.

[Judith Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler.md) · [The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind.md) · p. 12 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/lives-matter-in-the.md)

Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Gold was opposed to segregation and equally opposed to integration. Certainly he did not believe that women or homosexuals should suffer persecution or discrimination. On the other hand, he was privately opposed to all equal rights amendments, for he certainly did not want members of either group associating with him on levels of equality or familiarity.

[Joseph Heller](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller.md) · [Good As Gold](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller/good-as-gold.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller/good-as-gold/gold-was-opposed.md)

Topics: [hypocrisy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> [E]quality is not the empirical claim that all groups of humans are interchangeable; it is the moral principle that individuals should not be judged or constrained by the average properties of their group. … If we recognize this principle, no one has to spin myths about the indistinguishability of the sexes to justify equality.

[Steven Pinker](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker.md) · [The Blank Slate](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker/the-blank-slate.md) · p. 485 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker/the-blank-slate/e-quality-is-not.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> For many years I visualized the Soviet Union as a land where the sun never came out and enslaved Catholic peasants labored under lowering skies for their godless rulers.
>
> But our theology was often very practical: All men are created equal. Do onto others as you would have them do onto you. Follow the Ten Commandments, which we studied at length, except for adultery, “which you children don’t have to worry about.”

[Roger Ebert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert.md) · [Life Itself](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-ebert/life-itself/for-many-years.md)

Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> What we need is equality without conformity.

[Kim Stanley Robinson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson.md) · [Green Mars](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/green-mars.md) · p. 338 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/green-mars/what-we-need.md)

Topics: [conformity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Even if it had been real, equality would have been a poor substitute for liberation; fake equality is leading women into double jeopardy. The rhetoric of equality is being used in the name of political correctness to mask the hammering that women are taking. When The Female Eunuch was written our daughters were not cutting or starving themselves. On every side speechless women endure endless hardship, grief and pain, in a world system that creates billions of losers for every handful of winners. It's time to get angry again.

[Germaine Greer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/germaine-greer.md) · [The Whole Woman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/germaine-greer/the-whole-woman.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/germaine-greer/the-whole-woman/even-if-it-had.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs;
>
> For the priest, the warrior. the tradesman, and all the thirty-six castes, alike are seeking for God.
>
> It is but folly to ask what the caste of a saint may be;
>
> The barber has sought God, the washerwoman, and the carpenter —
>
> Even Raidas was a seeker after God.

[Kabir](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir.md) · [Songs of Kabir](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir/it-is-needless.md)

Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Hindus and Moslems alike have achieved that End, where remains no mark of distinction.

[Kabir](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir.md) · [Songs of Kabir](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kabir/songs-of-kabir/hindus-and-moslems.md)

Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> All men are created unequal.

[Robert A. Heinlein](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein.md) · [Time Enough For Love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/all-men-are.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> From the first I saw no chance of bettering the condition of the freedman until he should cease to be merely a freedman and should become a citizen.

[Frederick Douglass](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass.md) · [The Life and Times Of Frederick Douglass](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass/the-life-and-times-of-frederick-douglass.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-douglass/the-life-and-times-of-frederick-douglass/from-the-first.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Jantiff gave a hollow laugh. “Who now is the exploiter, monopolist, elitist tycoon and all the rest? What of egalism now?”
>
> Esteban retorted in a debonair, if somewhat edgy, voice: “Egalism is all very well, and I subscribe to it! Still: why deny the obvious? Everyone wants to make the most of their life.”

[Jack Vance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance.md) · [Wyst: Alastor 1716](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/wyst-alastor-1716.md) · p. 342 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/wyst-alastor-1716/jantiff-gave-a-hollow.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> “While we were gone someone broke into my case and stole most of my things.”
>
> The news seemed to drive Skorlet close to the limits of self-control. “And what do you expect?” she snapped in an unpleasantly harsh voice. “This is an egalistic country; why should you have more than anyone else?”
>
> “I have been over-egalized,” said Jantiff drily. “To the effect that I now have less than anyone else.”

[Jack Vance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance.md) · [Wyst: Alastor 1716](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/wyst-alastor-1716.md) · p. 324 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/wyst-alastor-1716/while-we-were.md)

Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Finnerack warmed to his subject. “Further, why should some toil for a mouthful of bread while long-fingered sybarites partake of Forty-Five Dishes? The good things should be divided; we should start the new system on a basis of equality.”
>
> Mialambre responded: “Your sentiments or generous and do you credit. All I can say is that such drastic redistributions have previously been attempted, always to result in chaos and cruel tyranny of one sort or another. This is the lesson of history, which we must now heed.”
>
> Finnerack offered no further opinions.

[Jack Vance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance.md) · [The Brave Free Men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-brave-free-men.md) · p. 193 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-brave-free-men/finnerack-warmed-to-his.md)

Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [tyranny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny.md)

> If the study of human interactions could become a science, I suspect that an inviolate axiom might be discovered to this effect: Every social disposition creates a disparity of advantages. Further: Every innovation designed to correct the disparities, no matter how altruistic in concept, works only to create a new and different set of disparities.

[Jack Vance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance.md) · [The Brave Free Men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-brave-free-men.md) · p. 113 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-brave-free-men/if-the-study.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [social inequality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/social-inequality.md)

> As in the presence of the Master, the Servants are equall, and without any honour at all; So are the Subjects, in the presence of the Soveraign. And though they shine some more, some lesse, when they are out of his sight; yet in his presence, they shine no more than the Starres in presence of the Sun.

[Thomas Hobbes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes.md) · [Leviathan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan.md) · p. 93 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/as-in-the.md)

Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> That a man be willing, when others are so too, as farre-forth, as for Peace, and defence of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men, as he would allow other men against himself.

[Thomas Hobbes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes.md) · [Leviathan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan.md) · p. 64 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/that-a-man.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [peace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace.md)

> Socialism is no more an evil word than Christianity. Socialism no more prescribed Joseph Stalin and his secret police and shuttered churches than Christianity prescribed the Spanish Inquisition. Christianity and socialism alike, in fact, prescribe a society dedicated to the proposition that all men, women, and children are created equal and shall not starve.

[Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut.md) · [A Man Without a Country](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/a-man-without-a-country.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/a-man-without-a-country/socialism-is-no-more.md)

Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [socialism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/socialism.md)

> The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal.  They weren't only equal before God and the law.  They were equal every which way.  Nobody was smarter than anybody else.  Nobody was better looking than anybody else.  Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.  All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

[Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut.md) · [Welcome to the Monkey House](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/welcome-to-the-monkey-house.md) · p. 7 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/welcome-to-the-monkey-house/the-year-was.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> For the colonel's lady an' Judy O'Grady,
>
> Are sisters under their skins.

[Rudyard Kipling](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rudyard-kipling.md) · [Barrack-Room Ballads](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rudyard-kipling/barrack-room-ballads.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/rudyard-kipling/barrack-room-ballads/for-the-colonels.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I've learned much, Father, and this above all: that no station in life is above any other, if it's occupied by someone with a good heart.

[Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Prentice Alvin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/prentice-alvin.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/prentice-alvin/ive-learned-much.md)

Topics: [kindness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Men can coexist on condition that they recognize each other as being all equally, though differently, human, but they can also coexist by denying each other a comparable degree of humanity, and thus establishing a system of subordination.

[Claude Lévi-Strauss](https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss.md) · [Tristes Tropiques](https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques.md) · p. 149 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques/men-can-coexist.md)

Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> The rudeness of many Americans depressed him, a rudeness based on a solid ignorance of the whole concept of manners, and on the proposition that for social purposes, all people are more or less equal and interchangeable.

[William S. Burroughs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs.md) · [Queer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs/queer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs/queer/the-rudeness-of-many.md)

Topics: [America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture.md)

> "Yes, that is the equality of man. Slaughter anybody who is better than you are, and then we shall be equal soon enough. All equally dead".

[T. H. White](https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white.md) · [The Book of Merlyn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white/the-book-of-merlyn.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white/the-book-of-merlyn/yes-that-is-the.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [jealousy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/jealousy.md)

> The foremost, or indeed the sole condition which is required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community, is to love equality, or to get men to believe you love it. Thus the science of despotism, which was once so complex, is simplified, and reduced as it were to a single principle.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-foremost-or-indeed.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [tyranny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny.md)

> It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/it-is-the.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [honour](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honour.md)

> The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in times of equality.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-main-business.md)

Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and view any privation of it with regret. But for equality, their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/i-think-that.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness: it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances—what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living? Thus it every day renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range, and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself. The principle of equality has prepared men for these things: it has predisposed men to endure them, and oftentimes to look on them as benefits.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/above-this-race.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [the state](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state.md), [tyranny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny.md)

> The principle of equality does not destroy the imagination, but lowers its flight to the level of the earth.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-principle-of-equality.md)

Topics: [imagination](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> The hatred that men bear to privilege increases in proportion as privileges become fewer and less considerable, so that democratic passions would seem to burn most fiercely just when they have least fuel. I have already given the reason for this phenomenon. [all conditions are unequal, no inequality is so great as to offend the eye, whereas the slightest dissimilarity is odious in the midst of general uniformity; the more complete this uniformity is, the more insupportable the sight of such a difference becomes.] Hence it is natural that the love of equality should constantly increase together with equality itself, and that it should grow by what it feeds on.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/the-hatred-that.md)

Topics: [democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/democracy.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> Furthermore, when citizens are all almost equal, it becomes difficult for them to defend their independence against the aggressions of power.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/furthermore-when-citizens.md)

Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [independence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence.md)

> I know of no country, indeed, where the love of money has taken stronger hold on the affections of men, and where the profounder contempt is expressed for the theory of the permanent equality of property.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/i-know-of-no-country.md)

Topics: [money](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money.md), [America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> There is in fact a manly and legitimate passion for equality that spurs all men to wish to be strong and esteemed. This passion tends to elevate the lesser to the rank of the greater. But one also finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the strong down to their level, and which reduces men to preferring equality in servitude to inequality in freedom.

[Alexis de Tocqueville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville.md) · [Democracy in America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/there-is-in-fact.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [jealousy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/jealousy.md)

> But for her sex, a woman is a man; she has the same organs, the same needs, the same faculties. The machine is the same in its construction; its parts, its working, and its appearance are similar. Regard it as you will the difference is only in degree.

[Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/but-for-her.md)

Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> To guide him in this inquiry, after we have shown him men by means of the accidents common to the species, we must now show him them by means of their differences. This is the time for estimating inequality natural and civil, and for the scheme of the whole social order. Society must be studied in the individual and the individual in society; those who desire to treat politics and morals apart from one another will never understand either. By confining ourselves at first to the primitive relations, we see how men should be influenced by them and what passions should spring from them; we see that it is in proportion to the development of these passions that a man's relations with others expand or contract. It is not so much strength of arm as moderation of spirit which makes men free and independent. The man whose wants are few is dependent on but few people, but those who constantly confound our vain desires with our bodily needs, those who have made these needs the basis of human society, are continually mistaking effects for causes, and they have only confused themselves by their own reasoning.
>
> Since it is impossible in the state of nature that the difference between man and man should be great enough to make one dependent on another, there is in fact in this state of nature an actual and indestructible equality. In the civil state there is a vain and chimerical equality of right; the means intended for its maintenance, themselves serve to destroy it; and the power of the community, added to the power of the strongest for the oppression of the weak, disturbs the sort of equilibrium which nature has established between them.

[Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/to-guide-him.md)

Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [independence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence.md)

> The people are mankind; those who do not belong to the people are so few in number that they are not worth counting. Man is the same in every station of life; if that be so, those ranks to which most men belong deserve most honour. All distinctions of rank fade away before the eyes of a thoughtful person; he sees the same passions, the same feelings in the noble and the guttersnipe; there is merely a slight difference in speech, and more or less artificiality of tone; and if there is indeed any essential difference between them, the disadvantage is all on the side of those who are more sophisticated. The people show themselves as they are, and they are not attractive; but the fashionable world is compelled to adopt a disguise; we should be horrified if we saw it as it really is.

[Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/the-people-are.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md)

> For his own part, should he need help, he will ask it readily of the first person he meets. He will ask it of a king as readily as of his servant; all men are equals in his eyes. From his way of asking you will see he knows you owe him nothing, that he is asking a favour. He knows too that humanity moves you to grant this favour; his words are few and simple. His voice, his look, his gesture are those of a being equally familiar with compliance and refusal. It is neither the crawling, servile submission of the slave, nor the imperious tone of the master, it is a modest confidence in mankind; it is the noble and touching gentleness of a creature, free, yet sensitive and feeble, who asks aid of a being, free, but strong and kindly.

[Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/for-his-own.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [dignity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity.md), [helping others](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/helping-others.md)

> It was curious to think that the sky was the same for everybody, in Eurasia or Eastasia as well as here.

[George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Nineteen Eighty-Four](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/it-was-curious-to.md)

Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [community](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community.md)