Quote collection
59 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator."
"My friends, it is solidarity of labor we want. We do not want to find fault with each other, but to solidify our forces and say to each other: We must be together; our masters are joined together and we must do the same thing."
"You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes."
"I know that there are no limits to which the powers of privilege will not go to keep the workers in slavery"
"Injustice boils in men's hearts as does steel in its cauldron, ready to pour forth, white hot, in the fullness of time."
"I am not blind to the shortcomings of our own people. I am not unaware that leaders betray, and sell out, and play false. But this knowledge does not outweigh the fact that my class, the working class, is exploited, driven, fought back with the weapon of starvation, with guns and with venal courts whenever they strike for conditions more human, more civilized for their children, and for their children's children."
"Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living"
"Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts."
"If they want to hang me, let them. And on the scaffold I will shout Freedom for the working class!"
"The employment of children is doing more to fill prisons, insane asylums, almshouses, reformatories, slums, and gin shops than all the efforts of reformers are doing to improve society."
"I'm not a lady, I'm a hellraiser"
"God almighty made women and the Rockefeller gang of thieves made the ladies."
"Little girls and boys, barefooted, walked up and down between the endless rows of spindles, reaching thin little hands into the machinery to repair snapped threads"
"I believe that no man who holds a leader's position should ever accept favors from either side. He is then committed to show favors. A leader must stand alone."
"I live in the United States, but I do not know exactly where. My address is wherever there is a fight against oppression."
"Reformation, like education, is a journey, not a destination"
"Your ancestors fought for you to have a share in that institution over there. It's yours. See the school board, and every Friday night hold your meetings there. Have your wives clean it up Saturday morning for the children to enter Monday. Your organization is not a praying institution. It's a fighting institution. It's an educational institution along industrial lines. Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!"
"No matter what the fight, don't be ladylike!"
"a TEN-YEAR-OLD lad in Indianapolis who was arrested for picking up coal along the side of railroad tracks is now in jail. If the boy had known enough to steal the whole railroad he would be heralded as a Napoleon of finance."
"Some day the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit!"