Social Inequality Quotes

“You must tell the true story of the Arkstone and the Toltecs — and the
Turanians. Through you and your tale those who are born into humankind
in later years will remember. You will stir their soul memories.”
― Candace L. Talmadge, Stoneslayer: Book One Scandal

“I could go into their reality any time I chose to, but they could never come into mine. This is what I called 'helping' them.”
― Agnostic Zetetic

“Charity is one of those remarkable words that helps to identify the fault lines of a culture.”
― Janet Poppendieck, Sweet Charity?: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement

“Western capitalist society, and especially my own American society, is one characterized by great inequalities. In any such society, by the nature of the case, the greatest threat to rightful freedom is always the wealth and power of the privileged. The chief task of the state in protecting human freedom should always be to use rightful state coercion to limit the freedom of the powerful and privileged to infringe the rightful freedom of the less privileged and the vulnerable. Political struggles in the modern world are usually fundamentally struggles about whether state power will be used to protect the rightful freedom of all, or instead used to protect the wrongful freedom of the wealthy, powerful, and privileged. Wide social inequality necessarily indicates that these struggles have come out the wrong way, on behalf of the unjust and oppressive freedom of the privileged against the rightful freedom of the majority.”
― Allen W. Wood, The Free Development of Each: Studies on Freedom, Right and Ethics in Classical German Philosophy

“Nota dell'autrice: Lo stesso si può dire naturalmente di molte opere qui citate. Non si denuncerà mai abbastanza il fatto che libri rari, esauriti, trovabili soltanto sugli scaffali di qualche biblioteca, o articoli pubblicati su vecchi numeri di riviste di alta
cultura, per l'immensa maggioranza del pubblico sono totalmente inaccessibili.
Novantanove volte su cento, il lettore desideroso di apprendere, ma a corto di tempo e privo delle poche nozioni tecniche familiari all'erudito di professione, resta -
volente o nolente - alla mercè di opere divulgative, scelte più o meno a caso; di
queste, a loro volta, le più pregevoli, non sempre ristampate, diventano introvabili.
Quella che noi chiamiamo «la nostra cultura», è più di quel che si creda una cultura per iniziati.”
― Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian

“Just as people often confused inequality with poverty, they often confuse the goal of reducing inequality with the goal of fostering economic growth. But the findings on the critical role played by inequality itself - on health, decision making, political and social divisions - argue that economic growth by itself is not sufficient.”
― Keith Payne, The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die

“Ah, Mas Nganten ini. Bagi orang kebanyakan seperti sahaya ini kita kawin supaya semakin susah. Tentu beda dengan para priyayi besar, mereka kawin supaya jadi senang.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Gadis Pantai

“I write that crime is an unlawful act of violence that can be committed by anyone, and that punishment is the consequence designed for criminals who don't have the economic means to cover it up. Throughout history, men of wealth and power have been exempt from facing the consequences of their evil deeds. Crime, therefore, can be defined as an offense committed by an individual of inferior status in society. Punishment is a consequence forced on the perpetrator of the crime only if he occupies one of the lower steps of the social ladder”
― Mahbod Seraji, Rooftops of Tehran

“Omenirea era săracă și se hrănea muncind, fără să distrugă bogățiile naturii, stînd la porțile ei cu modestie și fără să se gîndească încă la jaf. Răbdînd de foame putea să hrănească acolo cîțiva prinți și preoți, nu erau prea mulți, și această “nedreptate” socială este neînsemnată, dacă ținem seama de faptul că această diferență era necesară pentru formarea culturii. ... Nici o egalitate nu va înălța catedrale și palate, nu le va picta, nu le va împodobi. ... Din îndestulare se năștea disponibilitatea, din disponibilitate – capacitatea de apreciere, iar din capacitatea de apreciere – nivelul de cultură. În nici un caz invers. Cultura are nevoie de o bază, de bogăție. Nu pentru a satisface cerințele artistului, ci pentru a avea cu adevărat căutare. Este prea tîrziu deja să înțelegem acest rol pasiv, aproape biologic al aristocrației, și atît de evident. Nimănui nu-i trece acum prin cap că un extravagant din fruntea unui mic principat se pricepea pesemne foarte bine la muzică, dacă Haydn sau Bach erau “angajați” la el. Că papa se pricepea la pictură dacă avea de ales între Michelangelo și Rafael. Totuși aceștia erau niște oameni luminați. ... Doar pe seama inegalității sociale s-a perpetuat sensul umanității și posibilitatea ei.”
― Andrei Bitov, Pushkin House

“Me tembló el alma. ¿Qué hacer, que podría hacer para triunfar, para tener dinero, mucho dinero?...Y no sabiendo si pudiera asesinar a alguien, si al menos hubiera tenido a algún pariente, rico, a quien asesinar y responderme, comprendí que nunca me resignaría a la vida penuriosa que sobrellevan naturalmente la mayoría de los hombres. De pronto se hizo tan evidente en mi conciencia la certeza de que ese anhelo de distinción me acompañaría por el mundo.”
― Roberto Arlt

“We pay $2,000 to get in, and half of that goes to pay for the decorator," she said. "And the *dress* I wore cost $2,000. Why don't we just send in a check for $4,000 and stay home? The charity would make more money that way.”
― Ron Hall, Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

“I had been sleepin there for a long time hwen the Fort Worth police put up no-loiterin signs all over the place and made me have to move my sleepin spot. I found out later some rich white folks was "revitalizin" downtown. Raggedy black fellas sleepin ont he sidwalks wadn't part of the plan.”
― Ron Hall, Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

“The more I learned, the more I hated the Man and wanted to right the wrongs of Louisiana's modern-day slave masters. I sang Denvery's story like a songbird to anyone who would listen. Then one day, a thought hit me like a right cross to the head: My own granddaddy had not been so much different from the Man. Fairer, yes. An honest and decent man in the Texas of his day. But the wages he paid were still no excuse for the pitiful way we treated the folks who worked his land.”
― Ron Hall, Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

“If half the population gave up their luxuries, the entire population will be rid of disparities.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

“Bigwig is a word Pollak uses a lot. It signifies a species he has always wrestled with and rebelled against. Saturated with indignation and profound disdain, the word stands for a power imbalance as inappropriate as it is unacceptable.”
― Hans von Trotha, Pollaks Arm

“In fact, this can happen only when the conditions for commodity
production and exchange are equal for all members of society; that is to
say, when they are all independent owners of their means of production
who use these means to fabricate the product and exchange it on the
market. This is the most elementary relationship, and constitutes the
starting point for a theoretical analysis. Only on this basis can later
modifications be understood; but they must always satisfy the condition
that, whatever the nature of an individual exchange may be, the sum of
exchange acts must clear the market of the total product. Any
modification can be induced only by a change in the position of the
members of society within production. In fact, the modification must
take place in this manner because production and the producers can only
be integrated as a social unit through the operation of the exchange
process. Thus the expropriation of one section of society and the
monopolization of the means of production by another modify the exchange
process, because only there can the fact of social inequality appear.
However, since the exchange relationship is one of equality, social
inequality must assume the form of a parity of prices of production
rather than an equality of value. In other words, the inequality in the
expenditure of labour (which is a matter of indifference to capitalists
since it is the labour expenditure of others) is concealed behind an
equalization of the rate of profit. This kind of equality simply
underlines the fact that capital is the decisive factor in a capitalist
society. The individual act of exchange no longer has to satisfy the
requirement that units of labour in exchange shall be equal, and instead
the principle now prevails that equal profits shall accrue to equal
capitals. The equalization of labour is replaced by the equalization of
profit, and products are sold not at their values, but at their prices
of production.”
― Rudolph Hiferding, Finance Capital: A study in the latest phase of capitalist development

“That a man is a king only due to the circum­stances of birth should be considered just as terrible as when a man is untouchable only due to the accident of his birth.”
― Dhumketu, Ratno Dholi - The best stories of Dhumketu

“Bankruptcy favors the rich and shames the poor.”
― William Castano-Bedoya, We the Other People: The Beggars of the Mercury Lights

“It appears to me, and I hope to you too, that it's the wrong people feeling the pain.”
― Gordon Roddick

“It is a bloody outrage.”
― Gordon Roddick

“This is a reminder of the injustices black and brown women, and all women of color in the system face. The hospital simply attributed their deaths to pregnancy complications and childbirth. The babies were believed to have died from lung problems, birth defects, and heart and brain issues as well. But one thing we know is that ignoring these women’s concerns and subjecting them to unfair conditions also contributed to their untimely and scary deaths. This hospital needs to be shut down until they can come clean about their evil doings,” Yamileth continued.”
― Lydia V. Simms, Solana

“Tomorrow We Starve by Stewart Stafford

Grey aftertaste of dawn's biting light,
In emptied pockets, lint lesions blight,
A funeral march, with posture askew,
To a larder bare, options few.

A cup of tea's transient balm,
Rip open bills in the trembling calm,
Hope flickers in redemption's seam,
Vanishing as we scratch a fragile dream.

Wages held back, our pleas ignored,
To cloudy ivory towers, we implored,
Shadow people ground to a husk,
Tiny crumb specks in the dusk.

An overseer's laugh, a cruel facade,
The golden rule's sick charade,
Fingers sear in the dying flame,
The keening wind calls my name.

Reflections shatter, a distorted view,
Pipe dreams, strangled at birth, through,
The shaming shade exacts its cost,
Each pore clogged with penury's frost.

In darkest siege, a spark may ignite,
Defiant ember beacon's twilight,
Hope battered, but refuses to die,
Whispered lifeline to the coldest sky.

© 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Forgiveness has been and will continue to be used as a weapon against oppressed trauma survivors in order to maintain social inequalities, which cause further trauma.”
― Amanda Ann Gregory, You Don't Need to Forgive: Trauma Recovery on Your Own Terms

“Supposed that you are a trauma survivor and member of an opposed group. In that case, you are not only more likely to experience trauma, but you are also more likely to feel pressure from society to forgive your offender(s).”
― Amanda Ann Gregory, You Don't Need to Forgive: Trauma Recovery on Your Own Terms

“Forgiveness will not give you equal power to your offender in a society in which you are systemically oppressed, and they are systemically privileged.”
― Amanda Ann Gregory, You Don't Need to Forgive: Trauma Recovery on Your Own Terms

“If one sees a handful of powerful and rich people at the pinnacle of opulence and fortune, while the crowd below grovels in obscurity and wretchedness, it is because the former valued the things they enjoy only because others are deprived of them and even without changing their condition, they would cease to rejoice if the people ceased to suffer.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality