The most heroic word in all languages is revolution.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: Revolution
When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: Democracy
Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder…. the working class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish their corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace….They are continually talking about their patriotic duty. It is not their but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. There is a decided difference. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: War
I am not a labor leader. I don’t want you to follow me or anyone else. If you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of the capitalist wilderness you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into this promised land if I could, because if I could lead you in, someone else could lead you out.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: Leadership
Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: Contentment
The American people can have anything they want; the trouble is they don’t know what they want.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: Aspirations, Goals
The workers are the saviors of society, the redeemers of the race.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: Work
Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: Protest, Equality
Anybody can be nobody, but it takes a man to be somebody.
—Eugene V. Debs
Topics: Greatness
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Michael Harrington American Socialist
- Jane Addams American Social Reformer
- William Jennings Bryan American Political leader
- Jeannette Rankin American Politician
- Theodore Roosevelt American Head of State
- Carl Sandburg American Poet, Historian
- Joan Baez American Singer
- Helen Keller American Author
- Barbara Ehrenreich American Social Critic
- William McKinley American Head of State
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