William F. Buckley Jr. Quotes

Class structures are a luxury that we cannot afford.

We live in a very unequal society.

Colour is not the issue in America; class is.

We know that in our free market economy some will prosper more than others. What we don't accept is the idea that some folks won't even get a chance.

If you get so unequal that people believe they don't have a chance, that the field isn't level for them and their children, that puts democracy at risk.

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

If there is a class war—and there is—it is important that it should be handled with subtlety and skill. ... it is not freedom that Conservatives want; what they want is the sort of freedom that will maintain existing inequalities or restore lost ones.

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

The inequality that exists today, … derives less from the unequal availability of opportunity than from the unequal ability to exploit opportunity …

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 world is hugely unequal.

Inequality is partly a marker of success.

I don't think equality is intrinsically valuable, meaning in and of itself. I'm not against inequality... if Bill Gates gets another hundred million dollars, it's no skin off my nose.

The chasm between rich and poor is becoming larger, and I think it's interesting terrain to talk about and expose.

Greater inequality in Europe has made people less happy.

Class still matters in Britain today.

Mitt Romney subscribes to the cynical logic that says the American dream belongs to some of us but not all of us.

To be clear, the gap between the have gots and the have nots is widening. In this most multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic America ever, that concerns me.

Of all classes the rich are the most noticed and the least studied.

The difference between rich and poor is becoming more extreme, and as income inequality widens the wealth gap in major nations, education, health and social mobility are all threatened.

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.

And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.

I'm interested in illuminating the enormous disparity between vast poverty and the tiny upper class... This vast inequity is unfair by definition, and I am interested in illuminating that and, where possible, changing that.

The messenger matters. When people of modest means complain about inequality, it usually gets written off as class warfare, but when billionaires complain, the problem is redefined.

The Privileged and the People form Two Nations.