Mikhail Bakunin Quotes

The issue of wealth inequality is ... the great moral issue of our time.

Is the great working class oppressed? Yes, undoubtedly it is. God has intended the great to be great and the little to be little.

Instead of an aristocracy of wealth, of more harm and danger than benefit, to society, and scattered with equal hand throughout all its conditions.

A meritocracy increases inequality --- by its very nature, it has to.

When inequality gets too extreme, then it becomes useless for growth, and it can even become bad because it tends to lead to high perpetuation of inequality over time and low mobility.

No advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimeter nearer.

An imbalance between the rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.

There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents;... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provision should be made to prevent its ascendancy.

The prime culprit in causing contemporary social inequality seems to be merit.

Distinction in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions.

There are no great lords who possess everything and a herd of people who have nothing

Surely there is something unlovely, to modern as against medieval minds, about marked inequality of either kind income or power.

The gap between aspiration and reality could hardly be wider. Today, the United States has less equality of opportunity than almost any other advanced industrial country. Study after study has exposed the myth that America is a land of opportunity. This is especially tragic: While Americans may differ on the desirability of equality of outcomes, there is near-universal consensus that inequality of opportunity is indefensible.

One big part of the reason we have so much inequality is that the top 1 percent wants it that way.

Inequality is an inevitable product of capitalist activity, and expanding equality of opportunity only increases it—because some individuals and communities are simply better able than others to exploit the opportunities for development and advancement that capitalism affords.

The greatest issue before the people—the question of special privilege and unequal distribution of wealth.

I'm very keen that we have this debate about the good parts of inequality and the bad parts of inequality. It's not a one-sided thing.

There's always been a nasty strain of class prejudice ingrained in the condemnation of football's 'undeserving rich,' as if the working class is uniquely susceptible to being corrupted by money, and as if they deserve their wealth less than those born to it.

And I am interested in the fact that class is very much a factor in America, even though it's not supposed to be.

There is here, as in all countries, advantages and disadvantages.

They cannot divide us by saying that you're middle class or you're lower class.

In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.

If everybody lives in the same way, there's something almost narcotizing about it, but the true misery of economic class difference is knowing that you can't have what somebody else does.

I don't believe in social equality, and they know it.

It's not my fault that there is this gap between rich and poor, it is the fault of governments. I want a different world. One where I don't wake up thinking I'm so lucky to be able to feed my daughter.