Betty Friedan Quotes

There is also a natural and very, very strong empathy with the underdog, with people who have suffered, people who have been pushed around by foreigners in particular, but also by their own people.

Many people suffer at the hands of others. The world can be unfair, at times mercilessly so. Millions of people in the world are genuine victims, right now. All of us will be at some point, whether it's for small matters or large, for a long duration or short. But we aren't all victims, not all the time anyway, not for everything.

Only the tortured can understand those who have been tortured.

He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid.

I see myself in all the people in the world who are suffering and who are very badly treated and who are often made to feel that they have no place on this Earth.

It is my duty to voice the suffering of men, the never-ending sufferings heaped mountain-high.

I don't hate nobody. I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people - and they're helpless with it.

Our sweat and our blood have fallen on this land to make other men rich. The pilgrimage is a witness to the suffering we have seen for generations

There are people who are victims in life, and I don't think they should be encouraged.

Perhaps I'm temperamentally driven to see things from the point of view of the attacked rather than the attacker.

I believe Jews are compassionate people because of what we've suffered. We must not put that suffering onto others.

The forces of violence and oppression don't care about the innocent.

It's hard to think what should make your blood boil more - what happened to Billy Ray or what didn't happen to those who abused him. It's something we can't ignore.

Men feel that cruelty to the poor is a kind of cruelty to animals. They never feel that it is an injustice to equals; nay it is treachery to comrades.

Violence ravaged my life. I was a victim of hatred, and I have dedicated my life to reversing that hatred.

I learned compassion from being discriminated against. Everything bad that's ever happened to me has taught me compassion.

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

The cry of the oppressed has entered not only into my ears, but into my soul, so that while I live, I cannot hold my peace.

There are people who are suffering beyond description. They are innocent people, they didn't bring this upon themselves. They are the victims of the sins of other people. And while it's hard to see, it's important to understand that these people exist.

Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.

The Jewish background is not that far from the black groove. Blacks are downtrodden, Jews are downtrodden, therefore they have something in common in that affliction. Being downtrodden often makes one more empathetic and sympathetic.

Two words guided the making of 'Babel' for me: 'dignity' and 'compassion.' These things are normally forgotten in the making of a lot of films. Normally there is not dignity because the poor and dispossessed in a place like Morocco are portrayed as mere victims, or the Japanese are portrayed as cartoon figures with no humanity.

As many times as I've seen 'The Merchant of Venice,' I always take Shylock's side. For all the hatred that guy is shown, he has a reason to hate in return. He's treated cruelly. And it's tragic that he learns to be intolerant because of what others do to him.

I have not killed anyone. They will not let me.

Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage.