Minorities Quotes:

The Jews are the living embodiment of the minority, the constant reminder of what duties societies owe their minorities, whoever they might be.

- Abba Eban

topic: Minorities, Embodiment, Might

As far as I know, only a small minority of mathematicians, even of those with Platonist views, accept the idea that there may be mathematical facts which are true but unknowable.

- Abraham Robinson

topic: Views, Ideas, Minorities

The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great-grandfather, Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities of the North as willing tools and the South as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us, and never allow them to have control over their future.

- Ahmadu Bello

topic: Grandfather, Tools, Minorities, Allowing

There are some of us who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.  For us of the minority, the opportunity to see geese or wild flowers is a right as inalienable as free speech.

- Aldo Leopold

topic: Flower, Opportunity, Minorities

Mechanized recreation already has seized nine-tenths of the woods and mountains; a decent respect for minorities should dedicate the other tenth to wilderness.

- Aldo Leopold

topic: Mountain, Minorities, Woods

A government is free in proportion to the rights it guarantees to the minority.

- Alf Landon

topic: Rights, Government, Minorities

Isn't it a characteristic of the age we live in that it has made everyone in a way a migrant and a member of a minority?

- Amin Maalouf

source: Amin Maalouf (2001). “In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong”, p.37, Arcade Publishing

topic: Age, Migrants, Minorities

When you put a tiny and despised minority up for a popular vote, the minority usually loses.

- Andrew Sullivan

topic: Minorities, Tiny, Vote

[Her] work taught me that you could be all the traditional feminine things -- a mother, a lover, a listener, a nurturer -- and you could also be critically astute and radical and have a minority opinion that was profoundly moral.

- Anne Lamott

topic: Mother, Minorities, Taught, Astute

I have spent a great deal of my life being part of minorities. Some of the people I admire the most in the world have had the courage to defend, against wind and tide, minority viewpoints in those frightening times when any disagreement with universal conformity is identified as treason.

- Antonio Munoz Molina

topic: Wind, People, Minorities

I think all minority audiences watch movies with hope. They hope they will see what they want to see. That's why nobody really sees the same movie.

- Arthur Laurents

topic: Thinking, Watches, Minorities, Watch Movie

I'm used to being in the minority. I'm a left-handed, gay Jew. I've never felt, automatically, a member of any majority.

- Barney Frank

topic: Gay, Majority, Minorities, Left Handed

They are a very extensive minority who have suffered discrimination and who have the same right to participation in the promise and fruits of society as every other individual.

- Bella Abzug

topic: Individuality, Promise, Minorities

I voted for the Defense of Marriage Act but I do not believe we should institutionalize a form of discrimination against any minority by amending the Constitution.

- Ben Nighthorse Campbell

topic: Believe, Defense, Minorities, Amending The Constitution

Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.

- Bill Gates

topic: Minorities, Legs, Layers

When you're fighting for economic and social justice, you're always fighting for the minority.

- Bob Kerrey

source: "Bob Kerrey Will Call Your Bullshit" by Ted Genoways, www.motherjones.com. September/October 2012.

topic: Fighting, Justice, Minorities, Economic Justice, Always Fighting

In the end, a small section of the crowd, maybe 2,000 to 3,000, turned against me. And that was it. Inside the club they know your best intentions, but the minority shout louder than the rest.

- Bryan Robson

topic: Technology, Minorities, Crowds, Best Intentions

Counterfeit tolerance includes the opportunism of one who seeks, or accepts, tolerance for himself, as a minority, but who would deny it to others if ever he should be in a position to grant it.

- Carl Joachim Friedrich

topic: Tolerance, Atheism, Minorities, Opportunism

A minority group has 'arrived' only when it has the right to produce some fools and scoundrels without the entire group paying for it.

- Carl T. Rowan

topic: Political, Groups, Minorities, Minority Groups

People who are interested in the arts and theater are such a minority.

- Carol Kane

topic: Art, People, Minorities

I always say to women, 'Take advantage of the fact that you're in the minority, don't see it as a disadvantage. You're that much more unique when there's fewer of you.

- Carol Leifer

topic: Unique, Minorities, Facts

The reason that minorities and women dont have a better shot at getting elected to the Senate or to statewide office is because the campaign finance rules are so skewed as to make it very difficult for non-traditional candidates to raise the money necessary to get elected.

- Carol Moseley Braun

topic: Office, Campaigns, Minorities, Campaign Finance

If you're black in this country, if you're a woman in this country, if you are any minority in this country at all, what could possibly possess you to vote Republican?

- Cher

topic: Country, Black, Minorities

A minority is only thought of as a minority when it constitutes some kind of threat to the majority, real or imaginary. And no threat is ever quite imaginary.

- Christopher Isherwood

source: Christopher Isherwood, Don Bachardy, James P. White (1989). “Where Joy Resides: An Isherwood Reader”, Vintage

topic: Real, Majority, Minorities

And one day our grandkids will ask us, 'What was it like to be a minority?'

- Christy Haubegger

topic: One Day, Minorities, Grandkids

How proud I am to be compared to Oprah. I really admire her. She's a minority woman and she's done all this by herself... I'm very happy to be Oprah with salsa and not Donahue in drag.

- Cristina Saralegui

topic: Minorities, Done, Proud, Salsa

Like one of any minority, I have experienced prejudice.

- Dalia Mogahed

topic: Prejudice, Minorities

Well, it seems to me Lincoln, I suppose, is kind of a model of a particular sort of presidency, a presidency that first of all is elected by a minority of the votes.

- David Herbert Donald

topic: Minorities, Firsts, Vote

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he will not seek re-election. Harry said he wants to spend more time with his family. As I always say, check with your family.

- David Letterman

topic: Leader, Minorities, Want

The minority yields to the majority!

- Deng Xiaoping

topic: Yield, Majority, Minorities, Majority And Minority

I think the minority students that we admit to Harvard are every bit as meritorious as the white students that we admit.

- Derek Bok

topic: Thinking, White, Minorities

A venturesome minority will always be eager to set off on their own, and no obstacles should be placed in their path; let them take risks, for godsake, let them get lost, sunburnt, stranded, drowned, eaten by bears, buried alive under avalanches - that is the right and privilege of any free American.

- Edward Abbey

topic: Risk, Minorities, Alive, Stranded

I feel Irish-Americans are the forgotten minority group. Nobody else is making films about them.

- Edward Burns

topic: Groups, Minorities, Film, Minority Groups

I am a member of a small, nearly extinct minority group, a kind of urban lost tribe who insist, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, on the sanctity of being on time. Which is to say that we On-timers are compulsively, unfashionably prompt, that there are only handfuls of us in any given city and, unfortunately, we never seem to have appointments with each other.

- Ellen Goodman

topic: Cities, Groups, Minorities, Minority Groups, Timer

The speed of movement towards independence will depend on Kosovo demonstrating that it is capable of treating minorities well. We have not always seen that.

- Emma Bonino

topic: Independence, Minorities, Movement

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.

- Eric Hoffer

topic: Liberty, Majority, Minorities

Great numbers of Asian Americans do not fit the model minority or 'tiger family' stereotypes, living instead in multigenerational poverty far from the mainstream.

- Eric Liu

topic: Numbers, Asian, Minorities, Asian American

Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime, suppress minorities and still remain democratic.

- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

topic: Freedom, Minorities, Fifty, Libertarianism, Totalitarian Regimes

Armenia was always a minority nation. The Armenians were annihilated by the Russians and then by the Turks.

- Ernst Kaltenbrunner

source: Said to Leon Goldensohn, June 06, 1946. "The Nuremberg Interviews". Book by Leon Goldensohn, 2004.

topic: Armenia, Minorities, Armenians

One who belongs to the most vilified and persecuted minority in history is not likely to be insensible to the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution... But as judges we are neither Jew nor Gentile, neither Catholic nor agnostic.

- Felix Frankfurter

topic: Judging, Catholic, Minorities, Insensible

Niggerization is the result of oppression -- and it doesn't just apply to the black people. Old people, poor people, and students can also get niggerized.

- Florynce Kennedy

topic: People, Black, Minorities

The meaning of this observation is unclear, but it raises the unfortunate possibility of ambiguous triplets; that is, triplets which may code more than one amino acid. However one would certainly expect such triplets to be in a minority.

- Francis Crick

topic: Minorities, May, Acid, Triplet, Amino Acids

If an action must be taken that will benefit the majority at the cost of the minority, is it morally indefensible? If an action taken for the benefit of a majority occurs at the expense of a minority, is it moral action?

- Garth Nix

topic: Taken, Majority, Minorities, Moral Action

Look at television and how comparatively few minorities are out there.

- Gedde Watanabe

topic: Looks, Minorities, Television

All progress comes from the creative minority.

- George Gilder

topic: Creative, Progress, Minorities

Your political system is actually too democratic. The fact that Americans vote on every bill and proposition can prolong bigotry indefinitely, especially where it is aimed at minority groups.

- George Michael

topic: Political, Groups, Minorities, Minority Groups

Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.

- George Orwell

topic: Mad, Minorities, World, Untruth

Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one.

- George Orwell

topic: Minorities, Lunatic, Lunacy

"A minority of one"... the definition of insanity.

- George Orwell

topic: Crazy, Insanity, Minorities, Definition Of Insanity

Progress begins with the minority. It is completed by persuading the majority, by showing the reason and the of the step forward, and that is accomplished by appealing to the intelligence of the majority.

- George William Curtis

topic: Progress, Majority, Minorities

The minority of one generation is usually the majority of the next.

- Gertrude Atherton

topic: Majority, Generations, Minorities

I've always had questions about what it meant to be a protester, to be in the minority. Are the people who are trying to find peace, who are trying to have the Constitution apply to everybody, are they really the radicals? We're not protesting from the outside. We're inside.

- Gil Scott-Heron

topic: People, Trying, Minorities

Don't let anyone call you a minority if you're black or Hispanic or belong to some other ethnic group. You're not less than anybody else.

- Gwendolyn Brooks

topic: Black, Groups, Minorities, Hispanic, Ethnic Groups

When you use the term minority or minorities in reference to people, you're telling them that they're less than somebody else.

- Gwendolyn Brooks

topic: People, Minorities, Use

History teaches us that there have been but few infringements of personal liberty by the state which have not been justified, as they are here, in the name of righteousness and the public good, and few which have not been directed, as they are now, at politically helpless minorities.

- Harlan F. Stone

source: Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586, 1940.

topic: Names, Liberty, Minorities, Infringement, Public Good

Democracy cannot survive without the guidance of a creative minority.

- Harlan F. Stone

topic: Creative, Democracy, Minorities

And, even if Affirmative Action survives, it is also clear that these policies are not themselves sufficient to close the educational and employment gaps that plague U.S. minorities.

- Harry J. Holzer

topic: Educational, Gaps, Minorities

The last thing the Province needs is a minority government

- Hazel McCallion

topic: Government, Needs, Minorities, Minority Government

[The Democrats] will say that the Reagan administrtion has given benefits to the rich at the expense of the poor - a term that they define broadly to include middle-income people, women, minorities, the aged, the young, farmers, steelworkers, and others.

- Herbert Stein

topic: People, Income, Minorities

If a country doesn't recognize minority rights and human rights, including women's rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible.

- Hillary Clinton

topic: Country, Rights, Minorities, Human Rights Day

We cannot let a minority of people hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people

- Hillary Clinton

topic: People, Majority, Minorities

To find agreements in one's minority opinions is one of the great pleasures of reading.

- Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper

topic: Reading, Agreement, Minorities, Pleasure Of Reading

Men in authority are now a threatened minority.

- Ilana Mercer

topic: Men, Minorities, Authority

Candidates should be extremely cautious in displaying a sense of humor. If he or she tells a joke with a point, there is almost certain to be some minority group offended.

- Jack Germond

topic: Groups, Minorities, Sense Of Humor, Minority Groups

One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights.

- James K. Polk

source: Inaugural Address, avalon.law.yale.edu. March 04, 1845.

topic: Rights, Majority, Minorities

Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression.

- James K. Polk

source: Inaugural Address, avalon.law.yale.edu. March 04, 1845.

topic: Minorities, Shields, Constitution

Contrary to what we, the people, have been told, we are the power; we have supreme authority because we are the masses and true power always resides with the masses, never with the global elite who, by their very nature, have always been a vulnerable minority and will always continue to be...As long as the masses realize that, of course.

- James Morcan

topic: Long, People, Minorities, True Power

Since the birth of our Nation, no other right has been more important than having the ability to vote. Unfortunately, as history has shown, the denial of this right to minorities is a scar on our system of democracy.

- Jan Schakowsky

topic: Democracy, Important, Minorities

Revolutions can no longer be achieved by minorities. No matter how energetic and intelligent a minority may be, it is not enough, in modern times at least, to make a revolution. The cooperation of a majority, and a large majority too, is needed.

- Jean Jaures

topic: Intelligent, Minorities, May

It is unnatural for a majority to rule, for a majority can seldom be organized and united for specific action, and a minority can.

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

topic: Political, Majority, Minorities, Unnatural, Majority Rule

If the minority is able to successfully undo the Affordable Care Act by blackmail, it will be the undoing of the democratic nature of our government.

- Jerrold Nadler

source: "A Fundamental Challenge to Democracy" by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 7, 2013.

topic: Government, Minorities, Care, Undoing, Affordable Care Act

The behavior of the minority warranted the sergeant at arms being called.

- Jim McCrery

topic: Minorities, Arms, Behavior

I think you and the referee were in a minority of one, Billy.

- Jimmy Armfield

topic: Soccer, Thinking, Minorities

People are not fundamentally bad. It only takes the smallest of correctives to take care of that tiny minority that wants to disrupt the community.

- Jimmy Wales

source: "Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Responds". Slashdot Interview, slashdot.org. July 28, 2004.

topic: People, Community, Minorities

The whole of that part of Southern Africa which is controlled by racial minorities is experiencing either consistent and regular guerilla activity or is faced with advanced preparation for its commencement.

- Joe Slovo

topic: Southern, Preparation, Minorities, Southern Africa

When faith in our freedom gives way to fear of our freedom, silencing the minority view becomes the operative protocol.

- Joel Salatin

topic: Views, Giving, Minorities, Silencing

A lot of movies were influenced by 'Logan's Run,' like 'Minority Report'. A lot of films have those elements in them.

- Joel Silver

source: "Producer Joel Silver on SPLICE, LOGAN’S RUN, SWAMP THING, THE APPARATION, PROJECT-X, UNKNOWN WHITE MALE". Interview with Sara Wayland, collider.com. May 22, 2010.

topic: Running, Minorities, Elements, Minority Report

Jazz is not the popular culture. Jazz is in the same position in our culture as classical music. A very small minority of people really love it.

- John Corigliano

source: "The Gospel According To John Corigliano". Interview with Frank J. Oteri, www.newmusicbox.org. February 01, 2005.

topic: People, Culture, Minorities

We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts,

- John F. Kerry

topic: Facts, Minorities, Tiny, Ideologues

Given that Mr. Kerry is clearly exaggerating what happened to minority voters in the 2000 election in Florida, maybe we should wait for him to provide evidence of what he is alleging in 2004.

- John Fund

topic: Florida, Waiting, Minorities, Exaggerating, Wait For Him

When I go in to see people - and I sell an occasional ad now - I never say, 'Help me because I am black' or 'Help me because I am a minority.' I always talk about what we can do for them.

- John H. Johnson

topic: People, Black, Minorities

When enough Americans realize how rotten are the fruits of our policy of 'benign neglect,' how costly our prejudice is both in dollars and in human misery, the demand for change will be made-not for the sake of minority people, but for the sake of all of us.

- John Howard Griffin

topic: Justice, People, Minorities

Nixon in 1968, unlike Obama 2008, was elected as a minority president with only 43 percent of the vote. Yet, in 1972, he won what, in some measures, was the most lopsided election in American history with 61 percent.

- John Podhoretz

topic: President, Minorities, Election

Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority; but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow.

- John Stuart Mill

source: John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, John Troyer (2003). “The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill”, p.200, Hackett Publishing

topic: Order, Minorities, Genius

George W. Bush brought a lot of minorities into his administration, which was a positive thing, and they had some issues that they wanted to press, but 9/11 really gave them direction. It gave them a purpose.

- Josh Brolin

topic: Issues, Minorities, Purpose

I would in fact tend to have more confidence in the outcome of a democratic decision if there was a minority that voted against it, than if it was unanimous... Social psychology has amply shown the strength of this bandwagon effect.

- Jurgen Habermas

source: "Habermas and the Public Sphere". Book by Craig Calhoun, 1993.

topic: Decision, Psychology, Minorities, Social Psychology, Bandwagon

Go watch (Minority Report) if you can bear Tom Cruise for that long

- Kara Swisher

topic: Long, Watches, Minorities, Minority Report

Minority views expressed in films simply don't sell tickets.

- Karel Reisz

topic: Views, Minorities, Tickets

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that minority set-aside programs in municipal contracts were unconstitutional. The court wondered if there were proof that people of color even want to receive municipal contracts.

- Karen DeCrow

topic: Color, People, Minorities

Do you see any majority, anywhere, in this imperfect and irreligious world, admitting that the minority is precious? That any minority is precious?

- Katharine Fullerton Gerould

source: Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1920). “Modes and Morals”

topic: Majority, Admitting, Minorities

I feel worn down as a human being who has to constantly justify their existence to other human beings because I'm a minority

- Killer Mike

topic: Minorities, Worn, Existence

One of the great difficulties about being a member of a minority race is that so many kindhearted, well-meaning bores gather around to help.

- Langston Hughes

topic: Race, Minorities, Helping

And that is my definition of democracy, the right to be in a minority and not be suppressed

- Lee Harvey Oswald

source: Diane Holloway, Lee Harvey Oswald, Bob Cheney (2008). “Autobiography of Lee Harvey Oswald: My Life in My Words”, p.194, iUniverse

topic: Democracy, Minorities, Definitions

A minority is always compelled to think. That is the blessing of being in the minority.

- Leo Baeck

topic: Blessing, Thinking, Minorities

Many [of the Americans] polled showed a marked disapproval of the Wallonians, Danerians, and Pirenians. The fact that these minorities were invented by the pollster did not diminish the hostility.

- Leo Rosten

topic: Minorities, Facts, Disapproval

Liberals believe they own the franchise on minorities and can't stand any Hispanic or black who breaks rank.

- Linda Chavez

topic: Believe, Black, Minorities

Latinas are the fastest growing segment of the minority population, and their perspective deserves to be represented, not denigrated.

- Linda Sanchez

source: "Hispanic Caucus Chairman Denies Rep. Sanchez 'Whore' Remark Allegation" by Michael De Dora Jr. and Molly Hooper, www.foxnews.com. February 1, 2007.

topic: Perspective, Population, Minorities

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority.

- Lord Acton

source: Lord Acton (2016). “The History of Freedom: Great Event”, p.9, VM eBooks

topic: Freedom, Majority, Minorities, Majority And Minority, Latent

At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects often differed from their own; and this association, which is always dangerous, has sometimes been disastrous.

- Lord Acton

topic: Triumph, Minorities, Association, Sincere Friends

At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities....

- Lord Acton

topic: Liberty, Triumph, Minorities

Used to the conditions of a capitalistic environment, the average American takes it for granted that every year business makes something new and better accessible to him. Looking backward upon the years of his own life, he realizes that many implements that were totally unknown in the days of his youth and many others which at that time could be enjoyed only by a small minority are now standard equipment of almost every household.

- Ludwig von Mises

topic: Years, Average, Minorities

I think that most minorities have experienced some form of racial abuse.

- Lynn Swann

topic: Thinking, Abuse, Minorities

To say that majorities, as such, have a right to rule minorities, is equivalent to saying that minorities have, and ought to have, no rights, except such as majorities please to allow them.

- Lysander Spooner

source: Lysander Spooner (1867). “No Treason: No. 1-”, p.8

topic: Rights, Majority, Minorities

Chess only appeals to quite a small minority. It does not have the cachet of a mainstream popular sport.

- Magnus Carlsen

topic: Sports, Doe, Minorities, Popular Sports

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

- Mahatma Gandhi

topic: Truth, Minorities, Transcendentalism, Minority Government, Facing The Truth

The policies on the Republican side have been much better for Hispanics, for minorities, but the rhetoric, unfortunately, has not.

- Mario Diaz-Balart

topic: Minorities, Sides, Republican

Sci-fi and fantasy used to be a TV staple throughout my childhood. Then it just stopped dead. It was seen as culty, a minority interest.

- Mark Gatiss

topic: Childhood, Tvs, Minorities, Staples

The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

topic: Our World, Creative, Minorities, Pending

A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up the state's segregation laws was democratically elected?

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

topic: Law, Minorities, Unjust

There are certain standards, like the protection of minorities and the improvement in their lives that have to be improved now.

- Martti Ahtisaari

topic: Minorities, Improvement, Protection

a fatal defect in majority rule is that by its very nature it abolishes itself. Majority rule must inevitably become minority rule: the majority is too big to handle itself; it organizes itself into committees ... which in their turn resolve themselves into a committee of one ...

- Mary Parker Follett

topic: Democracy, Minorities, Majority, Majority Rule

I'm not a member of a minority but I can empathize with what's going on.

- Matthew Vaughn

source: "Director Matthew Vaughn talks Layer Cake and X-Men 3". Interview with Julian Roman, movieweb.com. May 10, 2005.

topic: Minorities, Members

Throughout the past century there has always existed a significant minority of first-rate biologists who have never been able to bring themselves to accept the validity of Darwinian claims. In fact, the number of biologists who have expressed some degree of disillusionment is practically endless.

- Michael Denton

source: Michael Denton (2002). “Evolution: A Theory in Crisis”, Adler & Adler Pub

topic: Past, Numbers, Minorities

In modern societies, some members of ethnic minority groups do not want to feel compelled to heed the voices of their communities when participating as citizens.

- Michael Kenny

topic: Voice, Community, Minorities, Minority Groups

In every State, the government is nothing but a permanent conspiracy on the part of the minority against the majority, which it enslaves and fleeces.

- Mikhail Bakunin

topic: Government, Liberty, Minorities, Fleece

We must remember that one of the most insidious ways of keeping women and minorities powerless is to let them only talk about harmless and inconsequential subjects...

- Mitsuye Yamada

source: Mitsuye Yamada, Merle Woo, Nellie Wong (2003). “Three Asian American Writers Speak Out on Feminism”, Red Letter Press

topic: Way, Minorities, Remember

We libertarians are not the spokesmen for any ethnic or economic class; we are the spokesmen for all classes, for all of the public; we strive to see all of these groups united, hand-in-hand, in opposition to the plundering and privileged minority that constitutes the rulers of the State.

- Murray Rothbard

topic: Hands, Class, Minorities, Economic Class

It's not surprising that truly humanitarian manifestos originate frequently in minority circles or with people whose consciences are troubled by the problems of minorities.

- Naguib Mahfouz

topic: Circles, People, Minorities, Manifestos

The fact is that ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time. And if you live long enough, as you're increasingly likely to do, you may well join it.

- Nancy Mairs

source: Nancy Mairs (1991). “Carnal Acts: Essays”, Perennial

topic: Long, Minorities, Warning

Everything about us black people is complicated, us being here, being a minority, being a woman, all those things are complicated.

- Nicole Beharie

source: "Exclusive! Nicole Beharie Talks Career Choices, Burden Of Representation, Being An “It” Girl & More". Interview with Vanessa Martinez, www.indiewire.com. August 27, 2011.

topic: People, Black, Minorities

The individual will always be a minority. If a man is in a minority of one, we lock him up.

- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

topic: Men, Minorities, Locks

Who are beneficiaries of the Court's protection? Members of various minorities including criminals, atheists, homosexuals, flag burners, illegal immigrants (including terrorists), convicts, and pornographers.

- Pat Buchanan

topic: Atheist, Religion, Minorities, Beneficiaries, Illegal Immigrants

Sometimes great injustices may be inflicted on the minority when the majority is in the pursuit of a great and just cause.

- Paul Robeson

topic: Minorities, May, Causes

It's a very bad thing when people exterminate other people, and people persecute minorities.

- Paul Wolfowitz

topic: People, Minorities

The problem with a popular art form is that those who want something more are in a hopeless minority compared with the millions who are always seeing it for the first time, or for the reassurance and gratification of seeing the conventions fulfilled again.

- Pauline Kael

source: Pauline Kael (1994). “For keeps”, E P Dutton

topic: Art, Minorities, Want

Nevertheless, I don't hesitate to say that elections in Germany are decided in the center, not on the fringes and not in the accumulation of minority interests.

- Peer Steinbruck

topic: Germany, Minorities, Election

In the first 50 years of the filibuster, it was used only 35 times. But the last Congress alone had 112 cloture motions filed, plus threats of more. This is the tyranny of the minority.

- Peter Fenn

source: "The tyranny of the minority" by Peter Fenn, www.politico.com. March 19, 2009.

topic: Years, Minorities, Lasts, Filibuster

Revolutions, we must remember, are always made by minorities.

- Peter Kropotkin

topic: War, Drug, Minorities

Historically, the minority party in Congress votes against raising the debt limit, forcing the majority party to whip its members into casting politically painful votes in favor.

- Peter Welch

source: "Playing chicken with U.S. economy". www.politico.com. March 17, 2011.

topic: Party, Majority, Minorities

Education and knowledge are the power of the minorities in this country

- Philip Vera Cruz

topic: Country, Minorities, Education And Knowledge

Absolute dominion of a powerful people by a minority always produces national aggression.

- Philip Wylie

source: "Generation of Vipers". Book by Philip Wylie, 1942.

topic: Powerful, People, Minorities

The restriction of religion to private life therefore does not necessarily threaten the vital interests of the majority religion, if there is one, and it protects minority religions from tyranny of the majority.

- Phillip E. Johnson

topic: Doe, Tyranny Of The Majority, Minorities

Perhaps only some young women, perhaps only a minority of all women, will be able to effect such changes through consciousness alone, through the strength of understanding, which, if transformed into wisdom, always means the performance of necessary actions.

- Phyllis Chesler

topic: Mean, Understanding, Minorities

I don't use the word minority because there is nothing minor about me.

- Piri Thomas

topic: Minorities, Use, Minors

While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control.

- Pope Francis

topic: Exercise, Minorities, Growing

There are people who are very greedy, there are people who don't care. But in my opinion, that is a minority. The majority of the people on the face of this earth want peace, and if this is true, then peace on earth is a very achievable objective. People say it's not going to happen. Well, let this time belong to those who believe it can happen, not to the ones who say it cannot.

- Prem Rawat

topic: Believe, People, Minorities, Peace On Earth

History has never been dominated by majorities, but only by dedicated minorities who stand unconditionally on their faith.

- R.J. Rushdoony

topic: Minorities, Majority, Dedicated

All novels are about certain minorities: the individual is a minority. The universal in the novel-and isn't that what we're all clamoring for these days?-is reached only through the depiction of the specific man in a specific circumstance.

- Ralph Ellison

topic: Men, Minorities, Individual, Depiction

All novels are about certain minorities: the individual is a minority.

- Ralph Ellison

topic: Minorities, Individual, Certain

Since I was a law student, I have been against the death penalty. It does not deter. It is severely discriminatory against minorities, especially since they're given no competent legal counsel defense in many cases. It's a system that has to be perfect. You cannot execute one innocent person. No system is perfect. And to top it off, for those of you who are interested in the economics it, it costs more to pursue a capital case toward execution than it does to have full life imprisonment without parole

- Ralph Nader

topic: Law, Perfect, Minorities, Law Students, Against Death Penalty

War is the health of the State. It automatically sets in motion throughout society these irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense.

- Randolph Bourne

topic: War, Government, Minorities

It is always the minorities that hold the key of progress.

- Raymond B. Fosdick

topic: Keys, Progress, Minorities, Unafraid

It is always the minorities that hold the key of progess; it is always through those who are unafraid to be different that advance comes to human society.

- Raymond B. Fosdick

topic: Keys, Minorities, Different

We are against the majority tyrannizing the minority. But we are definitely against the minority tyrannizing the majority.

- Recep Tayyip Erdogan

topic: Minorities, Majority, Offensive

The right of a minority is so important in a democracy.

- Robert Caro

topic: Democracy, Important, Minorities

Today's Democrats are little more than a collection of narrow interest groups-unions, tort lawyers, minorities headed by an ossified leadership. They are clever, tenacious and increasingly nasty in defending their perks, as establishments typically are...

- Robert L. Bartley

topic: Clever, Groups, Minorities, Torts, Tenacious

The will to power which always emanates from individuals or from small minorities in society is in fact a most important driving force in history. The extent of its influence has up to now been regarded far too little, although it has frequently been the determining factor in the shaping of the whole of economic and social life.

- Rudolf Rocker

source: "Nationalism and Culture" by Rudolf Rocker, translated by Ray E. Chase, Book I, (Ch. 1), 1952.

topic: Important, Minorities, Littles, Driving Force

I wanted to do something for the minority Muslims living in the West, especially in the UK, to bring up their morale a bit. They need to be proud of their religion

- Sami Yusuf

topic: Minorities, Proud, West

It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue

- Samuel Adams

source: Massachusetts Historical Society, John Adams, Samuel Adams, James Warren (1917). “Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence Among John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren ... 1743-1814”

topic: Liberty, Causes, Minorities

The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change nevertheless, and for the minority living there, change had been long overdue.

- Seamus Heaney

topic: Reality, Long, Minorities, Northern Ireland, Overdue

Women and minorities have excelled beautifully in comedy, but very few women are the lead in a drama,

- Sharon Gless

topic: Drama, Minorities, Comedy

The minorities have been confined to the city by a moat of bigotry.

- Shirley Chisholm

topic: Cities, Minorities, Civil Rights, Moats

You can't be a minority in this society without having someone express disapproval about affirmative action.

- Sonia Sotomayor

topic: Minorities, Action, This Society, Affirmative Action, Affirmative

Yesterday in a 25 to 24 vote, Republicans welcomed back Lott back into their leadership and named him minority whip. That is great for Trent. They say minority whip is a stepping stone to Grand Wizard.

- Stephen Colbert

topic: Yesterday, Minorities, Wizards

I am against the fact that a settler minority should impose an entire system of values on an indigenous people.

- Steven Biko

topic: People, Facts, Minorities, Indigenous People, Settlers

I fully recognize and appreciate the many substantial contributions of black Americans and other minorities to the creation and preservation and development of our great nation

- Strom Thurmond

topic: Appreciate, Black, Minorities

Marcos is all the exploited, marginalised, oppressed minorities resisting and saying "Enough!" He is every minority who is now beginning to speak and every majority that must shut up and listen. He is every untolerated group searching for a way to speak. Everything that makes power and the good consciences of those in power uncomfortable - this is Marcos.

- Subcomandante Marcos

source: "'Marcos is Gay'". Greeb Left Weekly, Issue 296, www.greenleft.org.au. November 05, 1997.

topic: Minorities, Way, Majority, Marcos

Rather than a big figure, I guess you could say I'm more of an influential minority symbol.

- Takashi Murakami

source: "Murakami's Monster Magic". Interview with Laura Brown, www.harpersbazaar.com. November 5, 2013.

topic: Minorities, Influential, Bigs

Most people are only too delighted to wreck each other's heads. And for the tiny minority who do their pathetic best not to, this world is going to go right ahead and make sure they do it anyway.

- Tana French

topic: People, Minorities, World

The majority should not be punished and subjected to a licensing curfew because of the bad behavior of the minority.

- Tessa Jowell

topic: Minorities, Majority, Behavior, Licensing, Curfew

South Africa was to evolve into the most pernicious example of the criminal practise of colonial and white minority domination.

- Thabo Mbeki

topic: White, Minorities, Criminals, Practise, Pernicious

Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one.

- Thomas Carlyle

topic: Minorities, Opinion, Starting

The clergy are at present divided into three sections: an immense body who are ignorant; a small proportion who know and are silent; and a minute minority who know and speak according to their knowledge.

- Thomas Huxley

topic: Ignorant, Minorities, Body

In fact, there are more homeowners today than ever before in the history of our Nation and more minority homeowners than ever before in the history of our Nation.

- Todd Tiahrt

topic: Today, Facts, Minorities, Homeowners

When you're in the minority, it doesn't matter what you're agenda is, you're not going to have the degree of freedom that you have as a member of the majority.

- Tom Daschle

topic: Minorities, Agendas, Matter

We have a small faction, and they are a minority, who believe they are there to govern. Then there is the majority of us who believe that indeed we are there to govern but more importantly we are there to be an opposition to the Democratic philosophy and the only way to do that is through confrontation.

- Tom DeLay

source: Houston Chronicle, April 14, 1991.

topic: Philosophy, Believe, Minorities

Sometimes I just like the feeling of being a minority and seeing how far you can push yourself in extreme circumstances.

- Tom Freston

topic: Feelings, Minorities, Sometimes

We shall always be a small minority in the world, but, when a small nation accomplishes something with its limited means, what it achieves has an immense and exceptional value, like the widow's mite. It is a deliberate and discerning love of a nation that appeals to me, not the indiscriminate love that assumes everything to be right because it bears a national label. Love of one's own nation should not entail non-love of other nations. Institutions by themselves are not enough.

- Tomas Garrigue Masaryk

topic: Mean, Patriotism, Minorities, Small Nations

I've always found that avoiding insanity is useful in life - which in American politics sometimes puts one in the minority.

- Tony Blankley

topic: Political, Insanity, Minorities

Affirmative action was designed to keep women and minorities in competition with each other to distract us while white dudes inject AIDS into our chicken nuggets.

- Tracy Morgan

topic: White, Competition, Minorities, Affirmative Action, Affirmative

We need a dedicated minority who, like the apostles of old, are willing to be called the scum of the earth and a spectacle to the world for the scandal of the cross.

- Vance Havner

topic: Christian, Needs, Minorities, Scum Of The Earth

If the pendulum swings, it may swing to a combination of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats and, thus, to a period of minority government or coalition, in some form.

- Vince Cable

topic: Swings, Government, Minorities, Minority Government

Though it is disguised by the illusion that a bureaucracy accountable to a majority of voters, and susceptible to the pressure of organized minorities, is not exercising compulsion, it is evident that the more varied and comprehensive the regulation becomes, the more the state becomes a despotic power as against the individual. For the fragment of control over the government which he exercises through his vote is in no effective sense proportionate to the authority exercised over him by the government.

- Walter Lippmann

topic: Exercise, Government, Minorities

The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority.

- Will Durant

source: Will Durant (1929). “The Mansions of Philosophy: A Survey of Human Life and Destiny”, Garden City, N.Y. : Garden City Publishing Company

topic: Political, Acting, Minorities, Minority Government

Truth always originates in a minority of one, and every custom begins as a broken precedent.

- Will Durant

topic: Broken Heart, Truth, Minorities

Democracy is an experiment, and the right of the majority to rule is no more inherent than the right of the minority to rule; and unless the majority represents sane, righteous, unselfish public sentiment, it has no inherent right.

- William Allen White

topic: Government, Democracy, Minorities

The argument that somehow we've got to get rid of minority scholarships so that we can have a free and fair America implies that we have a colorblind society where minorities are equal in their pursuit of funds to go to school.

- William H. Gray III

topic: School, America, Minorities

Those who back the Syrian regime from now on will find themselves in an even more isolated and indefensible minority.

- William Hague

topic: Minorities, Regimes, Isolated

A decade ago, I really did believe that the average investor could do it himself. I was wrong. I've come to the sad conclusion that only a tiny minority, at most one percent, are capable of pulling it off. Heck, if Helen Young Hayes, Robert Sanborn, Julian Robertson, and the nation's largest pension funds can't get it right, what chance does John Q. Investor have?

- William J. Bernstein

topic: Believe, Average, Minorities, Pension

It is tempting to pretend that minorities on death row share a fate in no way connected to our own, that our treatment of them sounds no echoes beyond the chambers in which they die. Such an illusion is ultimately corrosive, for the reverberations of injustice are not so easily confined.

- William J. Brennan

topic: Fate, Echoes, Minorities, Reverberation, Death Row

Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority.

- William Jennings Bryan

topic: One Day, Majority, Minorities

Sanity is not statistical - Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad.

- Winston Smith

topic: Mad, Minorities, Opinion

I cannot accept the definition of collective good as articulated by a privileged minority in society, especially when that minority is in power.

- Wole Soyinka

source: Wole Soyinka, Biodun Jeyifo (2001). “Conversations with Wole Soyinka”, p.58, Univ. Press of Mississippi

topic: Definitions, Minorities, Accepting, Collective Good

I don't think restaurants should refuse to serve minority people. They are quite tasty when prepared correctly.

- Zach Braff

topic: Thinking, People, Minorities, Tasty

But for the national welfare, it is urgent to realize that the minorities do think, and think about something other than the race problem.

- Zora Neale Hurston

topic: Thinking, Race, Minorities, Urgent

You know why I got involved in politics? The government is now a majority partner in my life. I am now a minority partner in my own life.

- Anthony Scaramucci

source: Source: gawker.com

topic: Government, Majority, Minorities

I can say it's true that if I want to understand a certain minority, I need to meet them and get to know them.

- Csanad Szegedi

source: Source: www.salon.com

topic: Needs, Minorities, Want

The direction and rhythm of human progress do not depend on the masses, even when they add up to hundreds of millions; they depend on superior minorities.

- Gonzalo Fernandez de la Mora

source: Gonzalo Fernández de la Mora (1987). “Egalitarian Envy: The Political Foundations of Social Justice”, New York : Paragon House

topic: Progress, Add, Minorities

If you take away 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan', I like 'Minority Report' a lot.

- Janusz Kaminski

source: Source: screenrant.com

topic: Saving Private Ryan, Lists, Minorities, Minority Report, Schindler

To stay in recovery, you must be responsible for finding your own motivation. Remember, motivation may not be easy to come by at first. It will probably be a very small, timid part inside of you. When you find it, let that part be in charge. Let the minority rule and lead you to a life you never dreamed was possible

- Jenni Schaefer

topic: Motivation, Recovery, Minorities

I have a love factor with the minorities.

- John Catsimatidis

topic: Minorities, Factors

The dangerous glorification of the nation state, and the baiting of minorities that goes along with it, releases an anti-democratic energy.

- Martin Schulz

topic: Energy, Minorities, Release, Glorification

The share of wealth held by the minority is much greater than the share held by the majority. We have to draw our own conclusions from that and it has to change.

- Martin Schulz

topic: Majority, Minorities, Wealth

When you cannot achieve a majority, it's a good idea to get rid of minority stakes.

- Mathias Dopfner

topic: Ideas, Majority, Minorities

If you're a so-called minority writer, the temptation is to write for the majority... I refuse to do that.

- Nguyen Viet Thang

topic: Writing, Temptation, Minorities

Writers from the majority can assume their audiences know what they're talking about - they don't have to explain things, whereas minority writers are expected to.

- Nguyen Viet Thang

topic: Talking, Majority, Minorities

These days I'm often called a Deviant Calvinist, but I don't really think my views do deviate from the Reformed tradition, though in some respects they may represent views that are not as popular now as they once were, or that may represent a minority report in the tradition.

- Oliver D. Crisp

topic: Thinking, Views, Minorities, Minority Report, Deviate

Can you imagine in 2016 there is a discussion about #OscarsSoWhite? Is it a novelty we've just discovered that the whole production machine is dominated by only one type of human being, excluding women, excluding gays, excluding minorities? This is not new.

- Raoul Peck

topic: Gay, Novelty, Minorities

Islam developed in opposition to orthodox Christianity from the very start, and it considers itself superior to Christianity. So far, it has only been tolerant in places where it is in the minority.

- Walter Kasper

topic: Islam, Minorities, Orthodox Christianity

Always look out for the little notes˘like minorities.

- William Boughton

topic: Looks, Minorities, Littles