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About this quote

What does it mean?
When laws are unjust, breaking them can be a necessary step to achieve true justice.
In plain terms
Sometimes breaking an unfair law is the first step to fixing it.
What can you take from it?
Civil disobedience can drive legal reform.

Where it applies

  • protests
  • legal reform efforts
  • ethical dilemmas

Putting it to work

  • participating in peaceful protests
  • challenging unjust laws

Questions to consider

  • When is breaking the law justified?
  • How do you define justice?

Another view

It could be interpreted as encouraging lawlessness without justification.

More from Gloria Steinem

  1. This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. Sex and race because they are easy and visible differences have been the primary ways of organizing human …

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  2. As the little boy said when asked if he wanted to be a lawyer like his mother, 'Oh no, that's women's work.' (Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions)

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