"'But whom do I treat unjustly,' you say, 'by keeping what is my own?' Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring into this life? From where did you receive it? It is as if someone were to take the first seat in the theater, then bar everyone else from attending, so that one person alone enjoys what is offered for the benefit of all in common — this is what the rich do. They seize common goods before others have the opportunity, then claim them as their own by right of preemption. For if we all took only what was necessary to satisfy our own needs, giving the rest to those who lack, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, and no one would be in need."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Basil of Caesarea, "I Will Tear Down My Barns", in Saint Basil on Social Justice, edited and translated by C. P. Schroeder (2009), p. 69
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Injustice
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Injustice
40 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Injustice →
Related Quotes
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly s…"
"We have failed to bring justice. We cannot build the future on injustice."
"Just as the American colonials' consciousness expanded from rebelling against unfair taxation in the 1760s to wide no…"
"Ibn Khaldun, writing in the 14th century, [had] famously argued that injustice is the surest path to the destruction …"
"Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby e…"
"Sheila had long ago decided that she’d spend her time productively, rather than wasting energy on dealing with percei…"
"The bread you are holding back is for the hungry, the clothes you keep put away are for the naked, the shoes that are…"
"INJUSTICE, n. A burden which of all those that we load upon others and carry ourselves is lightest in the hands and h…"
"When one has been threatened with a great injustice, one accepts a smaller as a favour."
"People, beware of injustice, for injustice shall be darkness on the Day of Judgment."