The Cry for Justice

The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest is a collection of quotations edited by Upton Sinclair. It was published in 1915. The title page describes the book as a collection of "writings of philosophers, poets, novelists, social reformers, and others who have voiced the struggle against social injustice."

Quotes

 * Work—work—work Till the brain begins to swim! Work—work—work Till the eyes are heavy and dim! Seam, and gusset, and band, Band, and gusset, and seam,— Till over the buttons I fall asleep, And sew them on in a dream! O Men, with sisters dear! O Men, with mothers and wives! It is not linen you're wearing out, But human creatures' lives! Stitch—stitch—stitch In poverty, hunger, and dirt,— Sewing at once, with a double thread, A shroud as well as a shirt.
 * Thomas Hood, The Song of the Shirt (1843), p. 60


 * How far, O rich, do you extend your senseless avarice? Do you intend to be the sole inhabitants of the earth? Why do you drive out the fellow sharers of nature, and claim it all for yourselves? The earth was made for all, rich and poor, in common. Why do you rich claim it as your exclusive right? The soil was given to the rich and poor in common—wherefore, oh, ye rich, do you unjustly claim it for yourselves alone? Nature gave all things in common for the use of all; usurpation created private rights. Property hath no rights. The earth is the Lord's, and we are his offspring. The pagans hold earth as property. They do blaspheme God.
 * Ambrose of Milan, p. 397


 * Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the actual possessor, then by his predecessor.
 * Jerome, p. 397


 * The superfluities of the rich are the necessaries of the poor. They who possess superfluities, possess the goods of others.
 * Augustine, p. 398