#privilege

I know it's a rare privilege, but if one can really tackle something in adult life that means that much to you, then it's more rewarding than anything I can imagine. ↗

— Andrew Wiles

#adult life #anything #i #i can #imagine

The first time he had taken the massa to one of these "high-falutin' to-dos," as Bell called them, Kunta had been all but overwhelmed by conflicting emotions: awe, indignation, envy, contempt, fascination, revulsion—but most of all a deep loneliness and melancholy from which it took him almost a week to recover. He couldn't believe that such incredible wealth actually existed, that people really lived that way. It took him a long time, and a great many more parties, to realize that they didn't live that way, that it was all strangely unreal, a kind of beautiful dream the white folks were having, a lie they were telling themselves: that goodness can come from badness, that it's possible to be civilized with one another without treating as human beings those whose blood, sweat, and mother's milk made possible the life of privilege they led. ↗

— Alex Haley

#privilege #slavery #wealth #beauty

The most privileged position, in life as in society, is that of an educated soldier. Rough warriors, at any rate, remain true to their character, and as great strength is usually the cover for good nature, we get on with them at need. ↗

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

#education

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. ↗

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

#above #both #loses #people #principles

Nobody's busting into YOUR apartment at three in the morning, are they? Well, then don't worry about what they're doing in South Korea and places like that. It's like the standard of living. Are you content to achieve your higher standard of living at the expense of people all over the world who've got a lower standard of living? Most Americans would say yes. Now we ask the question, are you content to enjoy your political freedom at the expense of people who are less free? I think they would also say yes. ↗

— William S. Burroughs

#politics #privilege #freedom

Why are you not smarter? It's only the rich who can't afford to be smart. They're compromised. They got locked years ago into privilege. They have to protect their belongings. No one is meaner than the rich. Trust me. But they have to follow the rules of their shitty civilised world. They declare war, they have honour, and they can't leave. But you two. We three. We're free. ↗

— Michael Ondaatje

#intelligence #privilege #rich #wealth #freedom

Stop thinking about class, she'd say. Like a rich man telling a poor man to stop thinking about money. ↗

— John Fowles

#money #privilege #money

I oppose any attempt to grant homosexual unions the same legal privileges that civil government affords to traditional marriage and family life. ↗

— Todd Akin

#any #attempt #civil #civil government #family

Male privilege and entitlement are dying a very painful death; no one gives up power without a struggle. ↗

— Gloria Allred

#dying #entitlement #gives #male #painful

I've been doing nineteen hours a day on London, nothing else, I mean this has been my whole life, and writing has been put on one side, and if I'm privileged enough to be the Mayor of this city, then I will not write again. ↗

— Jeffrey Archer

#been #city #day #doing #else