--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He says that there can be no high…" description: "\"“He says that there can be no high civilization without enslavement of the masses, either nominal or real. There must, he says, be a lower class, given..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/049/harriet-beecher-stowe-1149_capitalism_he-says-that-there-can-be-no-high-civili_1825699.jpg" --- # He says that there can be no high civilization without… ![“He says that there can be no high civilization without enslavement of the masses, either nominal or real. There must, he says, be a lower class, given up to physical toil and confined to an animal nature; and a higher one thereby acquires leisure and wealth for a more expanded intelligence and…” quote by Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/049/harriet-beecher-stowe-1149_capitalism_he-says-that-there-can-be-no-high-civili_1825699.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/049/harriet-beecher-stowe-1149_capitalism_he-says-that-there-can-be-no-high-civili_1825699.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/049/harriet-beecher-stowe-1149_capitalism_he-says-that-there-can-be-no-high-civili_1825699.jpg) > ““He says that there can be no high civilization without enslavement of the masses, either nominal or real. There must, he says, be a lower class, given up to physical toil and confined to an animal nature; and a higher one thereby acquires leisure and wealth for a more expanded intelligence and improvement, and becomes the directing soul of the lower. So he reasons, because, as I said, he is born an aristocrat;—so I don't believe, because I was born a democrat.”” [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Societies that rely on a subjugated lower class to sustain elite leisure are fundamentally unjust and unsustainable. **In simple terms:** High civilization needs enslaved masses. Key Takeaway Reject hierarchies that exploit labor. Themes justice class elitism freedom ethics Mood critical reflective Type philosophical political When to use this quote - political activism - academic discourse - social reform - labor rights - education curricula Key Concepts social stratification power dynamics moral philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How can societies redesign labor to benefit everyone? - What alternatives exist to hierarchical exploitation? A Different Perspective Such views ignore the potential of cooperative economies that uplift all. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Capitalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitalism/) [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Enslavement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enslavement/) [Lower class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lower-class/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) ## Related quotes > [People assume that I'm an aristocrat, but I don't really feel part of any class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toby-stephens/people-assume-that-i-m-an-aristocrat-but-i-don-t-really-feel-part-of/) [Toby Stephens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toby-stephens/) > [Kelsier smiled. 'It means that you, Vin, are a very special person. You have a power that most high noblemen envy. It is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-sanderson/kelsier-smiled-it-means-that-you-vin-are-a-very-special-person-you/) [Brandon Sanderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-sanderson/) > [“She was what an aristocrat should be, porcelain and silk, unreachable, gracious, untainted by the dust of all this common death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanith-lee/she-was-what-an-aristocrat-should-be-porcelain-and-silk-unreachable/) [Tanith Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanith-lee/) > [ “\[...\] Just because a person has a title doesn't make him an aristocrat. Some people are great aristocrats who have no other title than… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/osamu-dazai/just-because-a-person-has-a-title-doesn-t-make-him-an-aristocrat-some/) [Osamu Dazai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/osamu-dazai/) > [“An aristocrat? Apart from my deep hatred for birthright and primogeniture, I was aghast at my grooming misfire.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-rogers/an-aristocrat-apart-from-my-deep-hatred-for-birthright-and/) [Tim Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-rogers/) > [The breath of an aristocrat is the death rattle of freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-b-chner/the-breath-of-an-aristocrat-is-the-death-rattle-of-freedom/) [Georg Buchner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-b-chner/) > [The aristocrat is the democrat ripe, and gone to seed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-aristocrat-is-the-democrat-ripe-and-gone-to-seed/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I have alternately been called an Aristocrat and a Democrat. I am neither. I am a Christocrat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-rush/i-have-alternately-been-called-an-aristocrat-and-a-democrat-i-am/) [Benjamin Rush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-rush/) > [I always use the same comparison: Ian McKellen isn't a wizard. I'm not a 19-year-old aristocrat from the 19th century. It's all made up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicola-coughlan/i-always-use-the-same-comparison-ian-mckellen-isn-t-a-wizard-i-m-not/) [Nicola Coughlan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicola-coughlan/) > [“What is the distinguishing mark of an aristocrat?' she asked him suddenly. 'Reverence,' he replied.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-goudge/what-is-the-distinguishing-mark-of-an-aristocrat-she-asked-him/) [Elizabeth Goudge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-goudge/) > [Sometimes my biography is interpreted as the upbringing of a French aristocrat. It was very, very different. We were a family of mercantile, immigrant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/sometimes-my-biography-is-interpreted-as-the-upbringing-of-a-french/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [Every marriage tends to consist of an aristocrat and a peasant. Of a teacher and a learner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/every-marriage-tends-to-consist-of-an-aristocrat-and-a-peasant-of-a/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [Unlike the majority of the writers of his age, La Rochefoucauld was an aristocrat; and this fact gives a peculiar tone to his work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lytton-strachey/unlike-the-majority-of-the-writers-of-his-age-la-rochefoucauld-was-an/) [Lytton Strachey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lytton-strachey/) > [“how inevitable it was that the aristocrat would refuse his final duty—which was to step aside and vanish into history.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/how-inevitable-it-was-that-the-aristocrat-would-refuse-his-final-duty/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [“You can learn how to be an aristocrat by following a few rules in a very short book. There is nothing to it.” He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-o-neill/you-can-learn-how-to-be-an-aristocrat-by-following-a-few-rules-in-a/) [Heather O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-o-neill/) ## More by Harriet Beecher Stowe > [It lies around us like a cloud- A world we do not see; Yet the sweet closing of an eye May bring us there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/it-lies-around-us-like-a-cloud-a-world-we-do-not-see-yet-the-sweet/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/i-wrote-what-i-did-because-as-a-woman-as-a-mother-i-was-oppressed-and/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [People who hate trouble generally get a good deal of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/people-who-hate-trouble-generally-get-a-good-deal-of-it/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/common-sense-is-seeing-things-as-they-are-and-doing-things-as-they/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [Love needs new leaves every summer of life, as much as your elm-tree, and new branches to grow broader and wider, and new flowers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/love-needs-new-leaves-every-summer-of-life-as-much-as-your-elm-tree/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [God has always been to me not so much like a father as like a dear and tender mother.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/god-has-always-been-to-me-not-so-much-like-a-father-as-like-a-dear/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [If I am to write, I must have a room to myself, which shall be my room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/if-i-am-to-write-i-must-have-a-room-to-myself-which-shall-be-my-room/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [The longest way must have its close - the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/the-longest-way-must-have-its-close-the-gloomiest-night-will-wear-on/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [Home is a place not only of strong affections, but of entire unreserved; it is life's undress rehearsal, its backroom, its dressing room, from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/home-is-a-place-not-only-of-strong-affections-but-of-entire/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [I am speaking now of the highest duty we owe our friends, the noblest, the most sacred - that of keeping their own nobleness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/i-am-speaking-now-of-the-highest-duty-we-owe-our-friends-the-noblest/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [No ornament of a house can compare with books; they are constant company in a room, even when you are not reading them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/no-ornament-of-a-house-can-compare-with-books-they-are-constant/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [The greater the interest involved in a truth the more careful, self-distrustful, and patient should be the inquiry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/the-greater-the-interest-involved-in-a-truth-the-more-careful-self/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [We can make ourselves say the kind things that rise in our hearts and tremble on our lips - do the gentle and helpful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/we-can-make-ourselves-say-the-kind-things-that-rise-in-our-hearts-and/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [It's a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/it-s-a-matter-of-taking-the-side-of-the-weak-against-the-strong/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [What's your hurry?" Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/what-s-your-hurry-because-now-is-the-only-time-there-ever-is-to-do-a/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) [Explore all 280 Harriet Beecher Stowe quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) ## More Aristocrat quotes > [“You can learn how to be an aristocrat by following a few rules in a very short book. There is nothing to it.” He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-o-neill/you-can-learn-how-to-be-an-aristocrat-by-following-a-few-rules-in-a/) [Heather O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-o-neill/) > [“how inevitable it was that the aristocrat would refuse his final duty—which was to step aside and vanish into history.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/how-inevitable-it-was-that-the-aristocrat-would-refuse-his-final-duty/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [Unlike the majority of the writers of his age, La Rochefoucauld was an aristocrat; and this fact gives a peculiar tone to his work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lytton-strachey/unlike-the-majority-of-the-writers-of-his-age-la-rochefoucauld-was-an/) [Lytton Strachey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lytton-strachey/) > [Every marriage tends to consist of an aristocrat and a peasant. Of a teacher and a learner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/every-marriage-tends-to-consist-of-an-aristocrat-and-a-peasant-of-a/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [Sometimes my biography is interpreted as the upbringing of a French aristocrat. It was very, very different. We were a family of mercantile, immigrant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/sometimes-my-biography-is-interpreted-as-the-upbringing-of-a-french/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [“What is the distinguishing mark of an aristocrat?' she asked him suddenly. 'Reverence,' he replied.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-goudge/what-is-the-distinguishing-mark-of-an-aristocrat-she-asked-him/) [Elizabeth Goudge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-goudge/) > [I always use the same comparison: Ian McKellen isn't a wizard. I'm not a 19-year-old aristocrat from the 19th century. It's all made up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicola-coughlan/i-always-use-the-same-comparison-ian-mckellen-isn-t-a-wizard-i-m-not/) [Nicola Coughlan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicola-coughlan/) > [I have alternately been called an Aristocrat and a Democrat. I am neither. I am a Christocrat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-rush/i-have-alternately-been-called-an-aristocrat-and-a-democrat-i-am/) [Benjamin Rush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-rush/) > [The aristocrat is the democrat ripe, and gone to seed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-aristocrat-is-the-democrat-ripe-and-gone-to-seed/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The breath of an aristocrat is the death rattle of freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-b-chner/the-breath-of-an-aristocrat-is-the-death-rattle-of-freedom/) [Georg Buchner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-b-chner/) > [“An aristocrat? Apart from my deep hatred for birthright and primogeniture, I was aghast at my grooming misfire.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-rogers/an-aristocrat-apart-from-my-deep-hatred-for-birthright-and/) [Tim Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-rogers/) > [ “\[...\] Just because a person has a title doesn't make him an aristocrat. Some people are great aristocrats who have no other title than… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/osamu-dazai/just-because-a-person-has-a-title-doesn-t-make-him-an-aristocrat-some/) [Osamu Dazai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/osamu-dazai/) > [“She was what an aristocrat should be, porcelain and silk, unreachable, gracious, untainted by the dust of all this common death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanith-lee/she-was-what-an-aristocrat-should-be-porcelain-and-silk-unreachable/) [Tanith Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanith-lee/) > [“He bethought him with pride that he had always been called a scholar, and sneered at for his love of solitude and books. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/he-bethought-him-with-pride-that-he-had-always-been-called-a-scholar/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [I am for poetry that is admired by peasant and aristocrat alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-sionil-jos/i-am-for-poetry-that-is-admired-by-peasant-and-aristocrat-alike/) [F. Sionil Jose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-sionil-jos/) Browse all 52 Aristocrat quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He says that there can be no high civilization without enslavement of the masses, either nominal or real. There must, he says, be a lower class, given up to physical toil and confined to an animal nature; and a higher one thereby acquires leisure and wealth for a more expanded intelligence and improvement, and becomes the directing soul of the lower. 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