"Are you tough enough to face one of the uglier stains upon the fabric of our democracy, prejudice? It’s the basic root of most evil. It’s a part of the sickness of man. And it’s a part of man’s admission, his constant sick admission, that to exist he must find a scapegoat. To explain away his own deficiencies, he must try to find someone who he believes more deficient. If you find yourself thinking words like “Nigger”, or “Kike”, or “Polock”, or “Wop”, or “Bohunk”, or “Sheenie”, or “Dago”, consign them to the lexicon of race-haters who aren’t fit to breathe the same air as you are. Make your judgment of your fellow-man on what he says and what he believes and the way he acts. Be tough enough, please, to live with prejudice and give battle to it. It warps, it poisons, it distorts and it is self-destructive. It has fallout worse than a bomb … and worst of all it cheapens and demeans anyone who permits himself the luxury of hating."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Rod Serling, ”1968 Commencement Address to Binghamton Central High School Graduates”, (January 28th, 1968)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Prejudice
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Prejudice
61 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Prejudice →
Related Quotes
"Prejudice and self-sufficiency naturally proceed from inexperience of the world, and ignorance of mankind."
"He hears but half who hears one party only."
"If a person is capable of rectifying his erroneous judgments in the light of new evidence he is not prejudiced. Preju…"
"The prejudices of ignorance are more easily removed than the prejudices of interest; the first are blindly adopted; t…"
"The confirmed prejudices of a thoughtful life are as hard to change as the confirmed habits of an indolent life; and …"
"The great obstacle to progress is prejudice"
"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fe…"
"Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit, and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty be…"
"Self-love is a medium of a peculiar kind:[…] it magnifies everything which is amiss in others, at the same time that …"
"Popular prejudice is seldom removed by argument."