John Dos Passos Quotes

Clashes of values and the struggle for primacy constitute a constant in human history that accounts for that other constant - conflict and war.

The only real struggle in the history of the world ... is between the vested interest and social justice.

Multiculturalism isn't about culture, it's about power.

I long for a South African society that's free of ideological forces - no society can ever really be free of ideological forces - but I wish it was free of power.

The real issue…is the eternal struggle between…right and wrong; the common right of humanity set against the divine right of kings…

We are equal in war but not in peace.

The meek are a hell of a long way from inheriting the earth.

The elites benefit from affirmative action programs even when those programs are designed to help the masses.

We cannot rebuild the American Dream here at home by catering to the voices of the privileged and powerful.

I think history repeats itself. There's a constant conversation between the oppressed and the oppressor. No matter what your field is, whether it's gender equality, the Time's Up movement, or diversity casting, it's always going to be a back-and-forth battle.

Charity has always been a expression of the guilty consciences of a ruling class.

It's the people without the money and the power, who desperately want to live, for those people small things aren't small at all.

I cannot accept the definition of collective good as articulated by a privileged minority in society, especially when that minority is in power.

Educational enterprises do not for any length of time remain immune from the struggle of interests for power which is the dominant feature of social life under a class system.

Behind the honeyed but patently absurd pleas for equality is a ruthless drive for placing themselves (the elites) at the top of a new hierarchy of power.

Both liberty and equality are among the primary goals pursued by human beings throughout many centuries; but total liberty for wolves is death to the lambs, total liberty of the powerful, the gifted, is not compatible with the rights to a decent existence of the weak and the less gifted.

Of course all such conclusions about appropriate actions against the rich and powerful are based on a fundamental flaw: This is us, and that is them. This crucial principle, deeply embedded in Western culture, suffices to undermine even the most precise analogy and the most impeccable reasoning.

Plainly elites in America don't want democracy. And why should they? Democracy is always harmful to elite interests. Almost by definition.

Privileged people don't march and protest; their world is safe and clean and governed by laws designed to keep them happy.

There is no alternative to class struggle.

In one way or another, this is the oldest story in America: the struggle to determine whether “we, the people” is a moral compact embedded in a political contract or merely a charade masquerading as piety and manipulated by the powerful and privileged to sustain their own way of life at the expense of others.

Will there be a time when equality will exist? I think given human nature there will always be conflict.

I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on force.

Rising inequality isn’t about who has the knowledge; it’s about who has the power.

The civil rights situation is like a pregnancy. It will get worse, I believe, before it gets better. What the usual pregnancy comes to is a decent baby. That is what we all hope will be the end product of this stress. It is customary, at the end of a pregnancy, to have for your pains a decent baby.