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You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder. You need to know that you were not created to work and produce and impoverish yourself to enrich an idle exploiter. You need to know that you have a mind to improve, a soul to develop, and a manhood to sustain.

Eugene V. Debs#50

WorkExploitationDevelopmentDignityGrowthPotentialSelf worthWorth

About this quote

What does it mean?
Workers are urged to recognize their worth beyond being tools for profit and consumption.
In plain terms
You are more than just a worker; you have value and potential beyond labor.
What can you take from it?
Recognize your intrinsic value beyond economic output.

Where it applies

  • workplace counseling
  • worker motivation
  • personal growth

Putting it to work

  • promote worker dignity
  • advocate work life balance
  • encourage personal development

Questions to consider

  • What is work for?
  • How do we find meaning in labor?

Another view

It may overlook structural barriers preventing self-improvement.

More from Eugene V. Debs

  1. If ever I become entirely respectable I shall be quite sure that I have outlived myself.

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  2. They are continually talking about your patriotic duty. It is not their but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. There is a decided difference. T…

    Permalink to quote #51
  3. Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose towers may still be …

    Permalink to quote #48

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