--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: in race relations, the single gesture and…" description: "\"in race relations, the single gesture and the single individual are more often than not doomed to failure. Only the group and the long-term, undeviatin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c29/margaret-halsey-6554_accepting_in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and_1328067.jpg" --- # in race relations, the single gesture and the single… ![“in race relations, the single gesture and the single individual are more often than not doomed to failure. Only the group and the long-term, undeviating policy make much headway. ... if you want to make the world a better place, the first thing you must accept is the fact that you cannot transcend…” quote by Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c29/margaret-halsey-6554_accepting_in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and_1328067.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c29/margaret-halsey-6554_accepting_in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and_1328067.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c29/margaret-halsey-6554_accepting_in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and_1328067.jpg) > “in race relations, the single gesture and the single individual are more often than not doomed to failure. Only the group and the long-term, undeviating policy make much headway. ... if you want to make the world a better place, the first thing you must accept is the fact that you cannot transcend your limitations as an individual.” [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Collective, long‑term strategies succeed where single actions often fail; accept personal limits. **In simple terms:** Group action beats solo attempts. Key Takeaway Support systemic change. Themes social justice collective action limitations Mood determined reflective Type essay motivational When to use this quote - political reform - community organizing Key Concepts policy movement building social dynamics Questions to Reflect On - What systemic changes can you support? - How do personal limits shape your activism? A Different Perspective Individual effort still matters in inspiring change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Better place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-place/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Gestures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gestures/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Limitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/limitation/) [Long term](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-term/) [Race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race/) [Race relations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race-relations/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) [Single individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/single-individual/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Doubt is what allows a single gesture to have a heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fanny-howe/doubt-is-what-allows-a-single-gesture-to-have-a-heart/) [Fanny Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fanny-howe/) > [One reads the truer deeper facts of Reconstruction with a great despair. It is at once so simple and human, and yet so futile.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-reads-the-truer-deeper-facts-of-reconstruction-with-a-great/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One of the less dismaying aspects of race relations in the United States is that their improvement is not a matter of a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/one-of-the-less-dismaying-aspects-of-race-relations-in-the-united/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [As any change must begin somewhere, it is the single individual who will experience it and carry it through. The change must indeed begin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/as-any-change-must-begin-somewhere-it-is-the-single-individual-who/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [“It was that his words, his telling, just did not synchronize with what his hearers believed would (and must) be the scope of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/it-was-that-his-words-his-telling-just-did-not-synchronize-with-what/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [Believe that you can even as a single individual, you can change the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-tanner/believe-that-you-can-even-as-a-single-individual-you-can-change-the/) [Evan Tanner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-tanner/) > [A school of art or of anything else is to be looked on as a single individual, who keeps talking to himself for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/a-school-of-art-or-of-anything-else-is-to-be-looked-on-as-a-single/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [“I doubt if a single individual could be found from the whole of mankind free from some form of insanity. The only difference is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desiderius-erasmus/i-doubt-if-a-single-individual-could-be-found-from-the-whole-of/) [Desiderius Erasmus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desiderius-erasmus/) > [Households, cities, countries, and nations have enjoyed great happiness when a single individual has taken heed of the Good and Beautiful. Such people not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philo/households-cities-countries-and-nations-have-enjoyed-great-happiness/) [Philo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philo/) > [No single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/no-single-individual-moment-is-in-and-of-itself-unendurable/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [There is no way that the Fourth Gospel was written by John Zebedee or by any of the disciples of Jesus. The author of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/there-is-no-way-that-the-fourth-gospel-was-written-by-john-zebedee-or/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [The uniqueness of the unit was more or less that it was focused on a single individual. It was really the first time the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-scheuer/the-uniqueness-of-the-unit-was-more-or-less-that-it-was-focused-on-a/) [Michael Scheuer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-scheuer/) > [The whole theory of the universe is directed unerringly to one single individual.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/the-whole-theory-of-the-universe-is-directed-unerringly-to-one-single/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [“... That no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/that-no-single-individual-moment-is-in-and-of-itself-unendurable/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [If I could press a button and have all of Sequoia Capital on the Midas List, I would choose to do that over a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-leone/if-i-could-press-a-button-and-have-all-of-sequoia-capital-on-the/) [Douglas Leone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-leone/) ## More by Margaret Halsey > [Life itself, however, flows and is sequential and punishes those who try to compartmentalize it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/life-itself-however-flows-and-is-sequential-and-punishes-those-who/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [the crucial disadvantage of aggression, competitiveness and skepticism as national characteristics is that these qualities cannot be turned off at five o'clock.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/the-crucial-disadvantage-of-aggression-competitiveness-and-skepticism/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [Englishwomen's shoes look as if they had been made by someone who had often heard shoes described, but had never seen any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/englishwomen-s-shoes-look-as-if-they-had-been-made-by-someone-who-had/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [it is a waste of time to ask more of people than they have to give.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/it-is-a-waste-of-time-to-ask-more-of-people-than-they-have-to-give/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [I would have felt more comfortable on a girder fifty floors above the street, catching white-hot rivets in a pail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/i-would-have-felt-more-comfortable-on-a-girder-fifty-floors-above-the/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [The position of children as a group, in a commercial society, is not wholly advantageous. A commercial society urges its citizens to be responsible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/the-position-of-children-as-a-group-in-a-commercial-society-is-not/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [Money does not corrupt people. What corrupts people is lack of affection ... Money is simply the bandage which wounded people put over their wounds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/money-does-not-corrupt-people-what-corrupts-people-is-lack-of/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [Identity is not found, the way Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the bulrushes. Identity is built.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/identity-is-not-found-the-way-pharaoh-s-daughter-found-moses-in-the/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [I am living with a rising generation which talks like people coming out of ether.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/i-am-living-with-a-rising-generation-which-talks-like-people-coming/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [children are an embarrassment to a business civilization. A business society needs children for the same reason that a nomadic or a pastoral society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/children-are-an-embarrassment-to-a-business-civilization-a-business/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [The only way not to worry about the race problem is to be doing something about it yourself. When you are, natural human vanity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/the-only-way-not-to-worry-about-the-race-problem-is-to-be-doing/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [Employed as I had been employing it, liquor is a fixative of old patterns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/employed-as-i-had-been-employing-it-liquor-is-a-fixative-of-old/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [in the comparatively short time between my childhood and my daughter's, the business society has ceased urging people to produce and is now exerting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/in-the-comparatively-short-time-between-my-childhood-and-my-daughter/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [A person may be totally unimaginative and have the social vision of a mole, and we still call him a decent man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/a-person-may-be-totally-unimaginative-and-have-the-social-vision-of-a/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [Infants, I note with envy, are receptive to enjoyment in a degree not attained by adults this side of the new Jerusalem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/infants-i-note-with-envy-are-receptive-to-enjoyment-in-a-degree-not/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) [Explore all 98 Margaret Halsey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) ## More Accepting quotes > [From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matilda-joslyn-gage/from-augustine-down-theologians-have-tried-to-compel-people-to-accept/) [Matilda Joslyn Gage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matilda-joslyn-gage/) > [Laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing! It is the jester! A voice from the Void, to cheer poor Cicero! I accept your gift, dearest Night Mother.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/laughing-laughing-laughing-laughing-it-is-the-jester-a-voice-from-the/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [This duo inside of me causes the perfect opportunity to live and learn twice as fast as those who choose to accept simplicity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/this-duo-inside-of-me-causes-the-perfect-opportunity-to-live-and/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks. Because how else do we accept His free gift of salvation if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-voskamp/we-only-enter-into-the-full-life-if-our-faith-gives-thanks-because/) [Ann Voskamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-voskamp/) > [Don't be bitter. Everybody suffers. If you can accept your suffering then you will understand other people better. Be grateful for pain. Love life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-colbert/don-t-be-bitter-everybody-suffers-if-you-can-accept-your-suffering/) [Stephen Colbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-colbert/) > [It takes an unusually philosophic mind to accept that all one’s suffering might be to no end, really, in the larger scheme of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-takes-an-unusually-philosophic-mind-to-accept-that-all-one-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [No nation being under another nation can accept gifts, and kick at the responsibility attached to those gifts, imposed by the conquering nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/no-nation-being-under-another-nation-can-accept-gifts-and-kick-at-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Even with clothing naked animals, there were people who wanted to send in money. A woman in Santa Barbara, California, sent a $40,000 check.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-abel/even-with-clothing-naked-animals-there-were-people-who-wanted-to-send/) [Alan Abel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-abel/) > [Society understands the architecture of academia and knows there are relevant qualifications in different fields, and the media accepts the idea of specialisations and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-griffiths/society-understands-the-architecture-of-academia-and-knows-there-are/) [Jay Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-griffiths/) > [Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-murphy/whatever-your-conscious-mind-assumes-and-believes-to-be-true-your/) [Joseph Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-murphy/) > [Losing someone is easy, but accepting it is hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/losing-someone-is-easy-but-accepting-it-is-hard/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/and-so-he-tried-to-accept-the-ache-in-his-heart-as-what-dr-larch/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [I think what was special about 'Music by Prudence' was the classic story of the title subject's life path - from being an outcast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-think-what-was-special-about-music-by-prudence-was-the-classic/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [As my films are born at the moment when they are reflected into another person's mind and memories, there are no misconceptions. I totally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pirjo-honkasalo/as-my-films-are-born-at-the-moment-when-they-are-reflected-into/) [Pirjo Honkasalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pirjo-honkasalo/) Browse all 6,788 Accepting quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "in race relations, the single gesture and the single individual are more often than not doomed to failure. Only the group and the long-term, undeviating policy make much headway. ... if you want to make the world a better place, the first thing you must accept is the fact that you cannot transcend your limitations as an individual.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Margaret Halsey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and-the-single-individual-are/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Accepting" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and-the-single-individual-are/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c29/margaret-halsey-6554_accepting_in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and_1328067.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c29/margaret-halsey-6554_accepting_in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and_1328067.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c29/margaret-halsey-6554_accepting_in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and_1328067.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“in race relations, the single gesture and the single individual are more often than not doomed to failure…” — Margaret Halsey", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Margaret Halsey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "in race relations, the single gesture...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and-the-single-individual-are/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/in-race-relations-the-single-gesture-and-the-single-individual-are/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```