Robert G. Ingersoll Quotes

Affirm the priority of work over capital and the fact that material goods are meant for all … The priority of work over capital places an obligation in justice upon employers to consider the welfare of the workers before the increase of profits.

The priority of work over capital places an obligation in justice upon employers to consider the welfare of the workers before the increase of profits.

There can be no distress, there can be no hard times, when labor is well paid. The man who raises his hand against the progress of the workingman raises his hand against prosperity.

It is but right that the men of brains and brawn who produce shall be recognized in the distribution. We simply ask a just proportion of the proceeds.

The global economy should not be supported by wage earners. They have to be able to build a future like any other human being.

America's workers deserve a clean vote on a $7.25 increase, with no strings attached. Such an increase helps everyone and hurts no one.

Those who work ought to live better than those that don't.

What I care about is whether or not a leader will work with America's working people, whether or not a leader cares about responsibility and honest work and whether or not a leader will fight to keep the American Dream alive.

Wages, which cannot be considered as a mere commodity must enable the worker and his family to have access to a truly human standard of living in the material, social, cultural and spiritual orders.

We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others and in the protection of their welfare in so doing; in the rights to property as a trust from God; in collective bargaining and responsible consumption; and in the elimination of economic and social distress.

I believe in capitalism but in fair capitalism.

It is unjust to let any starve, when we think it just to limit the wages of the poor, so as they can lay up nothing against the time of their impotency and want of work.

We do not destroy ambition, nor do we seek to divide our wealth into equal shares on stated occasions. We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him and his a proper security, a reasonable leisure, and a decent living throughout life is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power.

The economy must provide justice as well as prosperity.

“A fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work,” is as just a demand as governed men ever made of governing; yet in what corner of this planet was that ever realized?

Unless you’re at the very top, you need a more equitable economy.

We've got to get everything we want—a works program, social security, wages and hours, everything—now or never.

I am totally in line with the fact that I think wealth distribution for carmakers needs to be redimensioned to allow labor to take a piece of that wealth distribution.

To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as nearly as possible, is a worthy object of any good government.

I believe in capitalism for everybody, not necessarily high finance but capitalism that works for the working men and women of this country who are out there paddling alone in America right now.

Hardworking Americans are fighting every day to provide for themselves and their families, and leave a more prosperous country for the next generation.

I say I don't need a tax cut. It will not do me any more good. I can't buy more, I can't eat more, I can't do more, and I want it distributed among the ordinary people who work every day.

We need to make sure middle-class people are able to pay the bills. We need to make sure that poor people don't starve. Those are values, too.

People who get rich early should help the rest get rich.

But we can also take the radical view that the test of an economy has to do with the extent to which it is providing everybody with a decent means of living.