John C. Calhoun Quotes

Solidarity is the basis of my politics.

… men who are governed by self-interest will combine, whether white or black, and the generous and selfless will similarly unite

Of all the fictions we heard last week in Tampa, the one I find most troubling is this: If we all just go our own way, our nation will be stronger for it. Because if we sever the threads that connect us, the only people who will go far are those who are already ahead.

In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people.

We have had in our nation a well-celebrated Declaration of Independence. But our success as a country will depend upon a new 'Declaration of Inter-dependence.' A belief in how much we need each other, how much we share one common destiny.

Reciprocity helps us balance the need for self-determination and creative individuality with mutual hope and, therefore, what might be described as 'solidarity.'

In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers yet as one hand in all things essential to mutual progress..

The only possible alternative to being either the oppressed or the oppressor is voluntary cooperation for the greatest good of all.

It's very important for us all to understand that we are interconnected and we need to hold hands together, especially when the going gets tough.

We must see others' struggles as our own, and their success as our success, so we can speak to our common humanity.

I believe that we have to come together, and we have to rely on the goodness of each other.

Unity and self-sacrifice, of themselves, even when fostered by the most noble means, produce a facility for hating. Even when men league themselves mightily together to promote tolerance and peace on earth, they are likely to be violently intolerant toward those not of a like mind.

There is no stability without solidarity and no solidarity without stability.

I can't imagine a society with absolutely no solidarity. For me, it's a nightmare. And I don't want to live in a place like that.

There is no Dubai and Abu Dhabi; we are one. Whoever doesn't understand this should do their homework before they start talking. We will be there for each other when we need it.

We all need each other.

We need to redefine community and find a variety of ways of coming together and helping each other.

I believe in cooperating for the common good.

Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.

Free people make the only milieu possible in society for the full gift of one's self to church, state, and family. Free people enjoy and sustain and feel with one another because they live for one another. The paths of life are intermingled lives.

I loved September 12th. I loved the way - it's awful but, boy, did I love that day when we all came together. All the bickering stopped. All the partisan, cheap partisan warfare stopped.

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.

There can be hope only for a society which acts as one big family, not as many separate ones.

All you now do is pursue your private objectives within society. Instead of us being a community, everybody is asked to seek their own personal ends. It's called competition. And competition is antagonism.

I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.