--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance…" description: "\"Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be cured by reform or revolution. But men do not live only by fighting evils. They live by positive ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8b/isaiah-berlin-10150_collectives_injustice-poverty-slavery-ignorance-thes_1544238.jpg" --- # Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be… ![“Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be cured by reform or revolution. But men do not live only by fighting evils. They live by positive goals, individual and collective, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, at times incompatible.” quote by Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8b/isaiah-berlin-10150_collectives_injustice-poverty-slavery-ignorance-thes_1544238.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8b/isaiah-berlin-10150_collectives_injustice-poverty-slavery-ignorance-thes_1544238.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8b/isaiah-berlin-10150_collectives_injustice-poverty-slavery-ignorance-thes_1544238.jpg) > “Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be cured by reform or revolution. But men do not live only by fighting evils. They live by positive goals, individual and collective, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, at times incompatible.” [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human fulfillment requires both addressing suffering and pursuing positive, diverse goals, even when they conflict. **In simple terms:** People need to fight evils and also chase varied, positive aims. Key Takeaway Balance confronting injustice with pursuing meaningful goals. Themes justice purpose human nature conflict diversity Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - social activism - career planning - community building - personal development Key Concepts philosophy political theory ethics Questions to Reflect On - What positive goals can you nurture alongside fighting injustice? - How do you reconcile conflicting aspirations? A Different Perspective Positive goals may be unpredictable and clash, making prioritization hard. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Collectives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectives/) [Cured Reform](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cured-reform-5758061/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Fighting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting/) [Fighting evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting-evil/) [Fighting Evils](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting-evils-5758060/) [Goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goal/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Injustice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/injustice/) [Injustice Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/injustice-poverty-1781024/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) [Live by](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/live-by/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Men Live](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-live/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Predictable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/predictable/) [Reform](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reform/) [Revolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolution/) [Revolution Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolution-men-1513562/) [Setting goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/setting-goals/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) [Variety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/variety/) ## Related quotes > [I have come to believe that one thing people cannot bear is a sense of injustice. Poverty, cold, even hunger are more bearable than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/millicent-fenwick/i-have-come-to-believe-that-one-thing-people-cannot-bear-is-a-sense/) [Millicent Fenwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/millicent-fenwick/) > [“You have to remember, Kanai, she said at length, that as a young man Nirmal was in love with the idea of revolution. Men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitav-ghosh/you-have-to-remember-kanai-she-said-at-length-that-as-a-young-man/) [Amitav Ghosh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitav-ghosh/) > [(He) was in love with the idea of revolution. Men like that, even when they turn their backs on their party and their comrades,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitav-ghosh/he-was-in-love-with-the-idea-of-revolution-men-like-that-even-when/) [Amitav Ghosh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitav-ghosh/) > [“The Revolution had many of these men, proportioned to the epoch. In this old man one was conscious of a man put to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-revolution-had-many-of-these-men-proportioned-to-the-epoch-in/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Carl Degler says (Out of Our Past): “No new social class came to power through the door of the American revolution. The men who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/carl-degler-says-out-of-our-past-no-new-social-class-came-to-power-2/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [“Carl Degler says (Out of Our Past): “No new social class came to power through the door of the American revolution. The men who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/carl-degler-says-out-of-our-past-no-new-social-class-came-to-power/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [“Whenever you believe that the evil outside you is greater than the evil inside you, a heartfelt pursuit of Christ will be replaced by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-s-lane/whenever-you-believe-that-the-evil-outside-you-is-greater-than-the/) [Timothy S. Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-s-lane/) > [“Maybe today, you’re on the receiving end of someone else’s cruel behavior. Or, perhaps you find yourself on the giving end of cruelty. Wherever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raj-kosaraju/maybe-today-you-re-on-the-receiving-end-of-someone-else-s-cruel/) [Raj Kosaraju](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raj-kosaraju/) > [Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight, she is the one named Sailor Moon!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naoko-takeuchi/fighting-evil-by-moonlight-winning-love-by-daylight-never-running/) [Naoko Takeuchi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naoko-takeuchi/) > [“Come,' he said, 'come, we must see and act. Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bram-stoker/come-he-said-come-we-must-see-and-act-devils-or-no-devils-or-all-the/) [Bram Stoker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bram-stoker/) > [What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed? Only innocent lives, Peter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sirius-black/what-was-there-to-be-gained-by-fighting-the-most-evil-wizard-who-has/) [Sirius Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sirius-black/) > [We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling against the certainties of people who claim always to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tzvetan-todorov/we-should-not-be-simply-fighting-evil-in-the-name-of-good-but/) [Tzvetan Todorov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tzvetan-todorov/) > [“She ran because she had no other choice. She feared what would happen if she dared to stop. There was no time to think.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judyann-mccole/she-ran-because-she-had-no-other-choice-she-feared-what-would-happen/) [Judyann McCole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judyann-mccole/) > [“When it comes to fighting evil, the left is almost pacifist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-prager/when-it-comes-to-fighting-evil-the-left-is-almost-pacifist/) [Dennis Prager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-prager/) > [The more one is absorbed in fighting evil, the less one is tempted to place the good in question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/the-more-one-is-absorbed-in-fighting-evil-the-less-one-is-tempted-to/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) ## More by Isaiah Berlin > [Those who have ever valued liberty for its own sake believed that to be free to choose, and not to be chosen for, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/those-who-have-ever-valued-liberty-for-its-own-sake-believed-that-to/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Liberty is liberty, not equality or fairness or justice or human happiness or a quiet conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/liberty-is-liberty-not-equality-or-fairness-or-justice-or-human/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [“The world that we encounter in ordinary experience is one in which we are faced by choices equally absolute, the realisation of some of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-world-that-we-encounter-in-ordinary-experience-is-one-in-which-we/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Philosophers are adults who persist in asking childish questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/philosophers-are-adults-who-persist-in-asking-childish-questions/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [The history of society is the history of the inventive labors that man alter man, alter his desires, habits, outlook, relationships both to other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-history-of-society-is-the-history-of-the-inventive-labors-that/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing completely straight was ever made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/out-of-the-crooked-timber-of-humanity-nothing-completely-straight-was/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Utopias have their value -- nothing so wonderfully expands the imaginative horizons of human potentialities -- but as guides to conduct they can prove…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/utopias-have-their-value-nothing-so-wonderfully-expands-the/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Both liberty and equality are among the primary goals pursued by human beings throughout many centuries; but total liberty for wolves is death to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/both-liberty-and-equality-are-among-the-primary-goals-pursued-by/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [All forms of tampering with human beings, getting at them, shaping them against their will to your own pattern, all thought control and conditioning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/all-forms-of-tampering-with-human-beings-getting-at-them-shaping-them/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-case-against-the-notion-of-historical-objectivity-is-like-the/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [“True pluralism, as Berlin understands it, is much more tough-minded and intellectually bold: it rejects the view that all conflicts of values can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/true-pluralism-as-berlin-understands-it-is-much-more-tough-minded-and/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Liberty and equality, spontaneity and security, happiness and knowledge, mercy and justice - all these are ultimate human values, sought for themselves alone; yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/liberty-and-equality-spontaneity-and-security-happiness-and-knowledge/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [To understand is to perceive patterns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/to-understand-is-to-perceive-patterns/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [“The view that the truth is one and undivided, and the same for all men everywhere at all times, whether one finds it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-view-that-the-truth-is-one-and-undivided-and-the-same-for-all-men/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [The most passionate, consistent, extreme and implacable enemy of the Enlightenment and ... all forms of rationalism ... was Johann Georg Hamann. His influence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-most-passionate-consistent-extreme-and-implacable-enemy-of-the/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) [Explore all 64 Isaiah Berlin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) ## More Collectives quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [As in any machine, all the wires must be connected to the mains through one main wire. In the same way, you all must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/as-in-any-machine-all-the-wires-must-be-connected-to-the-mains/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [It clearly follows that to make men moral it is necessary to make their social environment moral. And that can be done in only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-bakunin/it-clearly-follows-that-to-make-men-moral-it-is-necessary-to-make/) [Mikhail Bakunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-bakunin/) > [There is a way in which the collective knowledge of mankind expresses itself, for the finite individual, through mere daily living . . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-knowledge-of-mankind-expresses/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [The law is the collective organization of the individual's right to lawful defense of his life, liberty and property. When it is used for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-law-is-the-collective-organization-of-the-individual-s-right-to/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [But we need to be very clear: because of our decades of collective denial, no gradual, incremental options are now available to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/but-we-need-to-be-very-clear-because-of-our-decades-of-collective/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [A “collective” mind does not exist. It is merely the sum of endless numbers of individual minds. If we have an endless number of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/a-collective-mind-does-not-exist-it-is-merely-the-sum-of-endless/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Through Sahaja Yoga what happens to you, that you become a collective personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/through-sahaja-yoga-what-happens-to-you-that-you-become-a-collective/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [If you don't allow people to contribute, to offer their point of view, or to criticize what has been put before them, then they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-mandela/if-you-don-t-allow-people-to-contribute-to-offer-their-point-of-view/) [Nelson Mandela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-mandela/) > [“The whole organization seemed to be in free fall, indulging in a collective fantasy in which experienced colleagues refused to admit that their every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-whole-organization-seemed-to-be-in-free-fall-indulging-in-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We seem to have lost contact with the earlier, more profound functions of art, which have always had to do with personal and collective…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-london/we-seem-to-have-lost-contact-with-the-earlier-more-profound-functions/) [Peter London](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-london/) > [If you need someone to come out of the sewer with a wire you don't hire someone who needs laborious collective instruction. You let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-monahan/if-you-need-someone-to-come-out-of-the-sewer-with-a-wire-you-don-t/) [William Monahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-monahan/) > [For all the civilians saved thanks to the presence of peacekeepers, there have been those who were lost - the United Nations personnel who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-eliasson/for-all-the-civilians-saved-thanks-to-the-presence-of-peacekeepers/) [Jan Eliasson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-eliasson/) > [Man, in the collective sense, is the hero of science. Man, in the collective sense, is the hero of Earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacque-fresco/man-in-the-collective-sense-is-the-hero-of-science-man-in-the/) [Jacque Fresco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacque-fresco/) [Browse all 1,039 Collectives quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectives/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be cured by reform or revolution. But men do not live only by fighting evils. 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