Margrethe Vestager Quotes

In every human society, there is an effort continually tending to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort and to diffuse their influence universally and equally.

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

Justice often means taking power from some who have it and giving it to some who do not.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

Segregation is that which is forced upon an inferior by a superior. Separation is done voluntarily by two equals.

I want nothing to do with privilege.

I do know that God created us equal and we're not living up to it.

Injustice in the end produces independence.

The fears of one class of men are not the measure of the rights of another.

The paradox of American democracy has been that its slogan of equal opportunity has meant, often, equal opportunity to get power over your fellows.

Liberty without equality is a name of noble sound and squalid result.

The concessions of the privileged to the unprivileged are so seldom brought about by any better motive than the power of the unprivileged to extort them

We are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

We are out to defeat injustice and not white persons who may be unjust.

Justice is not available to all equally; it is something that many of us must struggle to achieve.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

I'm not persuaded that the opposite of poverty is wealth - I've come to believe... that the opposite of poverty is justice.

When things are not fair, I speak my mind.

I know we have to have people of good conscience who stand up against oppression. I know we have to have people who understand that social justice belongs to us all. And that wakes me up every morning, and that makes me fight even harder.

Although it may be difficult in theory to know what is just and equal, the practical difficulty of inducing those to forbear who can, if they like, encroach, is far greater, for the weaker are always asking for equality and justice, but the stronger care for none of these things.

Free people can treat each other justly, but they can't make life fair. To get rid of the unfairness among individuals, you have to exercise power over them. The more fairness you want, the more power you need. Thus, all dreams of fairness become dreams of tyranny in the end.

The weak are always anxious for justice and equality. The strong pay no heed to either.

We've been blessed with the opportunity to stand for something - for liberty and freedom and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to.

Justice is achieved only when injustice is absent.