Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

Nowhere in the world is presented a government of so much liberty and equality. To the humblest and poorest amongst us are held out the highest privileges and positions.

I don't believe that the American dream should be reserved for those who are born into the elite or somehow have been given an advantage over others. My growing-up experience is probably the most important thing that guides my priorities and my work today.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions — it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

In a country where there is no privileged class, genius and industry may attain the highest honors.

As Americans, I think we really believe that with the meritocracy that exists in our country, the equality of opportunity is so important to the foundation of our culture and our society.

To me, being a Democrat means we can't let 'We the People' turn into 'We the Few.'

America is a meritocracy.

Obama is the splendid fruit of a meritocracy.

We are building a country where a person's prospects are determined by their own initiative and hard work and not by the color of their skin, place of birth, gender, language, or income of their parents.

I think this country is genuinely a meritocracy.

Remember, most of us got something for nothing the first time just by showing up here at birth. Now we have to qualify.

If your only opportunity is to be equal then it is not opportunity.

Imagine if your success in life is determined only by your guts, your hard work, and your willpower, and not by the wealth of your parents. I think it'll be a much more interesting world. I think this could change the way the planet is run.

I hope someday what people can do with their lives depends on their talents and how hard they are willing to work, rather than on where they happen to be born.

Fairness is not the end result, it's the opportunity. And everybody in America today has the opportunity to get ahead.

We believe in the Australian promise; that if you work hard, you won't be left behind.

I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy - I don't disparage envy, but I don't accept it as legitimately my master.

God allows unjust disparities between rich and poor because He does not miraculously intervene to establish justice against human wills. Also, discrepancies are not unjust by themselves; justice does not mean equality of result but equality of opportunity.

Democracy presumes that we're all created equal; competition proves we are not, or else every race would end in a tie.

Even in its third century, America is still the most meritocratic nation in the world.

We must restore the emotional relationship that people have to the idea of America, that no matter where you come from, no matter where you live, that you have access to the same opportunities that somebody who is born in privilege.

My feeling is, having lived in different classes, that people want equality of opportunity... that's the thing that makes me despair: the idea that people aren't given equality of opportunity.

Everyone must have a shot at the American Dream.

Every American wants a clean slate, but nobody wants to lose what they've got.

Conservatives often say that we should care not about equality of outcomes but about equality of opportunity.