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The man who attempted to retain for himself land or goods, or who fenced off a portion of the common ground and—like the modern landlord—would allow no one to till it who did not pay him a tax—was a criminal of the deepest dye. Nevertheless the criminals pushed their way to the front, and have become the respectables of modern society.

— Edward Carpenter Defence of Criminals: A Criticism of Morality (1889)

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Respect

More quotes by Edward Carpenter

Every human being grows up inside a sheath of custom, which enfolds it as the swathing clothes enfold the infant.

To keep a man (slave or servant) for your own advantage merely, to keep an animal that you may eat it, is a lie. You cannot look that man or animal in the face.

England's Ideal and Other Papers on Social Subjects (1887)

The money-grubber has been floating with the great current of society, while the poor man has been swimming against it.

Defence of Criminals: A Criticism of Morality (1889)

There is no solution except the freedom of woman—which means of course also the freedom of the masses of the people, men and women, and the ceasing altogether of economic slavery.

Love's Coming of Age (1896)

The law is in a sense the consolidated public opinion of society.

Defence of Criminals: A Criticism of Morality (1889)

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A daughter who respects you while you’re alive is far better than a son who performs the rites and rituals after you’re gone.

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There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect.

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The wise treat self-respect as non-negotiable, and will not trade it for health or wealth or anything else.

Thomas Szasz The Second Sin (1973)

Only he who has measured the dominion of force, and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice.

Simone Weil Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Edward Carpenter (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.