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I know you are brave and unselfish people, making sacrifices for a great principle but I cannot join you. I believe in the present effort which the allies are making to suppress German militarism. I would approve of America going to their assistance. I would enlist to that end, if ever there be a situation where I believe I could do more with my hands than I could with my pen.

Upton Sinclair#3

PoliticsMoralityWarChoiceConsciencePatriotismService

About this quote

What does it mean?
The author expresses support for allies against militarism but declines to join a specific group or fight personally.
In plain terms
I support the cause but will not join your group or fight.
What can you take from it?
Supporting a principle does not require personal sacrifice or membership.

Where it applies

  • military recruitment
  • conscientious objection
  • political debate

Putting it to work

  • declining service
  • supporting causes remotely

Questions to consider

  • When do you fight for a cause?
  • How do you express support?

Another view

Refusing to join active efforts can be seen as cowardice.

More from Upton Sinclair

  1. Let us redeem our great words from base uses. Let that no longer call itself Love, which knows that it is not free!

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  2. I have lived in Germany and know its language and literature, and the spirit and ideals of its rulers. Having given many years to a study of American capitalis…

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  3. What life means to me is to put the content of Shelley into the form of Zola. The proletarian writer is a writer with a purpose; he thinks no more of 'art for …

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