Michel Onfray Quotes

As a human being, when I see things going on in my community, I feel compelled to do something, to say something.

There has to be a social commitment, a social consciousness that joins men together. On the basis of their coming together, they do not transgress against themselves and they do not transgress against others.

A decent society is not based on rights. It is based on duty. Our duty to one another. To all should be given opportunity; from all responsibility demanded.

Maybe it's because my uncle and my parents were always very involved with the civil rights movement, so I just grew up and I was raised that you have to speak out and look out for your fellow man, woman, and child.

There are people who can look out for other human beings; there are people who can speak up when something is not right and say, 'This is wrong, and something should be done.'

I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.

A different world cannot be built by indifferent people.

The work of community, love, reconciliation, restoration is the work we cannot leave up to politicians. This is the work we are all called to do.

I think that all people who feel that there is injustice in the world anywhere should learn as much of it as they can bear. That is our duty.

We need to build websites with celebrity speakers who talk about the ideals of fairness, sharing, democratic cooperation, and altruism in public life.

A calling is you feel - you look out and see the need - maybe it's the need for the poor, to help poor people. Maybe it's the need to get involved in the race problem, as Martin Luther King was - felt called.

There's always going to be a need for activism; there's always going to be a need for you and me doing the right thing, being very Lincoln-sonian in looking out for each other.

It's hard for us not to be involved with things. When you have so much information and you see so much need, there's too much going on for us not to get involved.

It is possible to tolerate anything as long as it only affects you. But the method of collective punishment is bigger than that.

When I see something unjust, I have to intervene - it's hard for me to watch the underdog suffer.

We need to get back to a level of social responsibility that we haven't seen for a long time.

I feel it's part of my job to make the problems of the poor compelling.

So we gravitated to shows and issues and causes that made people care.

Until we all start to take responsibility, until we do all we can to improve the character of our communities, we'll never break the cycle of violence and indifference.

I'm not a politician. I only want to help relieve the suffering in communities, and I want to help people see their community in each other.

We do not have to accept the world as we find it. And we have a responsibility to leave our world a better place and never walk by on the other side of injustice.

As a liberal, I am morally obligated to be pragmatic. What good do I do poor people, elderly people, people who are being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation if I'm not realistic about accomplishing something.

The test of our social commitment and humanity is how we treat the most powerless of our fellow citizens, the respect we accord to our fellow human beings. That is what reveals our true culture.

I am compelled, because of my faith, to have compassion for the weak and vulnerable in our midst.

To affirm my own rights I must define and affirm the rights of others.