"Every attempt, by whatever authority, to fix a maximum of productive labor by a given worker in a given time is an unjust restriction upon his freedom and a limitation of his right to make the most of himself in order that he may rise in the scale of the social and economic order in which he lives. The notion that all human beings born into this world enter at birth into a definite social and economic classification, in which classification they must remain permanently through life, is wholly false and fatal to a progressive civilization."

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Source: Nicholas Murray Butler (1917). “A World in Ferment: Interpretations of the War for a New World”, New York : Scribner

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Nicholas Murray Butler

Politician, Educator

Nicholas Murray Butler was an influential American educator and diplomat known for his contributions to peace and education, including his role in the establishment of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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