Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
No one should decide who lives or dies; every life has value regardless of status.
In plain terms
You are not God; everyone matters equally.
What can you take from it?
Respect all lives, especially the vulnerable.

Where it applies

  • ethical dilemmas
  • social inequality
  • medical decisions

Putting it to work

  • advocating for poor
  • avoiding elitism

Questions to consider

  • Who decides the value of a life?
  • What makes a life worth living?

Another view

Society often must make hard choices about resources or safety.

More from Charles Dickens

  1. 'God bless us every one!' said Tiny Tim, the last of all.

    Permalink to quote #77
  2. I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall stri…

    Permalink to quote #79
  3. 'You are fettered,' said Scrooge, trembling. 'Tell me why?' 'I wear the chain I forged in life,' replied the Ghost. 'I made it link by link, and yard by yard; …

    Permalink to quote #76

Related quotes

  1. If a test of civilization be sought, none can be so sure as the condition of that half of society over which the other half has power.

    Harriet MartineauHarriet Martineau quote #1
  2. I work not only for the OJs, but also the No Js. - In reference to many low income clients he represented.[1]

    Johnnie CochranJohnnie Cochran quote #2
  3. We must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living.

    Davy CrockettDavy Crockett quote #8