Thoughts on Famous Quotes & their Consequences

“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”
Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin emphasizes that luck is not just a result of someone running into good fortune when he least expects it, but that good luck will always be a result of diligence and hard work.  People who persevere and overcome the hardships in life will always find themselves in a better position in the end. 

 

 “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

 

In the history of the United States, African American citizens have experienced racial discrimination.  Today, society has begun to recognize their equality and react with sensitivity to racial issues, but it has been a hard battle fought by many.  During the 60s, Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for equality and fair treatment of African Americans; his outspoken opinions eventually resulted in his assassination, but in spite of his death, his dream of a nation where the color of a person’s skin does not determine the value of their soul continues to progress toward fruition. 

 

 “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!”
Patrick Henry

 

The speech was given as an opposition to the English Crown in 1775; however, this quote will always be heard wherever there is oppression of liberty.  Life would not be worthwhile without the freedom to act according to our desires and dreams.  Unfortunately, some parts of the world today are still under the iron grip of tyrannical governments.  Wherever there is a threat to people’s freedom, there will always be people who will fight for the right to be free.

 

 “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” 
John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

 

Throughout history, men have risen to power with blood on their hands.  From the early kings of Greece, Egypt, Babylon, and Persia, to the Caesars of the Roman Empire onwards to the kings of Europe, up to the twentieth and twenty first century’s rulers.  These so called “Great Men” have dreams of obtaining power and being immortalized in history, and many did whatever it took to achieve their goals.  Julius Caesar, Nero, Genghis Khan, Henry VIII, Vladimir Lenin, Ado lf Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Kim Jong Il are just a number of these rulers who have proved the truth of this saying.  Democratic countries are not immune to this type of men either.  One example is Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, who declared Martial Law a few years before his term ended, seized the media, imprisoned, and killed the people who opposed him.  Where there is absolute power, there is always blood.  Nothing is more tru than what occurred during the French Revolution, when Maximillien Robespierre, who was deemed as the “incorruptible” and his “Committee of Public Safety” the Jacobins, seized power.  Robespierre eventually became the terror of France by executing King Louis XVI, followed byMarie Antoinetteand thousands of other victims who were allegedly accused as a threat to the revolution.  Robespierre’s reign of terror ended in his own hands by publicly announcing, but not mentioning the names, of the next line of people who were threats to the revolution.   Out of the ashes of the fires of the revolution come another leader and dictator named Napoleon Bonaparte.  History has taught us that absolute power given to one results in the suffering of many.  As the Russian author and soldier, Petr Kropotkin said, "What we learn from the study of the Great French Revolution is that it was the source of all the present communist, anarchist, and socialist conceptions.”