--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The lowest stage of humanity is…" description: "\"The lowest stage of humanity is experienced when the individual must labour for a small pittance of wages from others.\" — Robert Owen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ced/robert-owen-17328_humanity_the-lowest-stage-of-humanity-is-experien_3199031.png" --- # The lowest stage of humanity is experienced when the… ![“The lowest stage of humanity is experienced when the individual must labour for a small pittance of wages from others.” quote by Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ced/robert-owen-17328_humanity_the-lowest-stage-of-humanity-is-experien_3199031.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ced/robert-owen-17328_humanity_the-lowest-stage-of-humanity-is-experien_3199031.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ced/robert-owen-17328_humanity_the-lowest-stage-of-humanity-is-experien_3199031.png) > “The lowest stage of humanity is experienced when the individual must labour for a small pittance of wages from others.” [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. It highlights the dehumanizing effect of low-wage labor that reduces people to mere cogs. **In simple terms:** Low wages strip dignity. Key Takeaway Advocate fair pay and dignity. Themes labor economics human dignity class social justice Mood somber critical Type political social commentary When to use this quote - minimum wage debates - union organizing - policy reform - worker empowerment Key Concepts exploitation alienation economic inequality Questions to Reflect On - How does low pay affect self-worth? - What policies can restore dignity? A Different Perspective Low wages may be necessary for some economies; balance with living standards. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Individual Labour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual-labour-5931929/) [Labour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labour/) [Labour Small](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labour-small-2519179/) [Lowest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lowest/) [Lowest Stage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lowest-stage-1916300/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Stage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stage/) [Wages](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wages/) ## Related quotes > [Detect and fix any problem in a production process at the lowest stage possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-grove/detect-and-fix-any-problem-in-a-production-process-at-the-lowest/) [Andy Grove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-grove/) > [I make no apology for saying that in the East End of London a new party of labour, with a small L, is being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-galloway/i-make-no-apology-for-saying-that-in-the-east-end-of-london-a-new/) [George Galloway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-galloway/) > [A core part of the global market is what might be called the 'Nike Economy' - footloose companies that play countries against one another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-j-sweeney/a-core-part-of-the-global-market-is-what-might-be-called-the-nike/) [John J. 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That's the lowest of low to me. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cheyenne-kimball/i-see-a-lot-of-true-artists-then-you-see-them-on-the-cover-of-maxim/) [Cheyenne Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cheyenne-kimball/) > [“I stood by you at your lowest, but you left me for another at your highest.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-bekoe/i-stood-by-you-at-your-lowest-but-you-left-me-for-another-at-your/) [Marion Bekoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marion-bekoe/) > [ Just between you and me, shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs \[Less Developed Countries\]?... I… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-summers/just-between-you-and-me-shouldn-t-the-world-bank-be-encouraging-more/) [Lawrence Summers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-summers/) > [Vegetables, which are the lowest in the scale of living things, are fed by roots, which, implanted in the native soil, select by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anthelme-brillat-savarin/vegetables-which-are-the-lowest-in-the-scale-of-living-things-are-fed/) [Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anthelme-brillat-savarin/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) ## More by Robert Owen > [Eight hours daily labour is enough for any human being, and under proper arrangements sufficient to afford an ample supply of food, raiment and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/eight-hours-daily-labour-is-enough-for-any-human-being-and-under/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [We may look through ancient and modern history, yet scarce find a sovereign to whom God offered the privilege of bestowing on humanity a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/we-may-look-through-ancient-and-modern-history-yet-scarce-find-a/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [You may depend upon it that they are as good hearts to serve men in palaces as in cottages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/you-may-depend-upon-it-that-they-are-as-good-hearts-to-serve-men-in/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [There is but one mode by which man can possess in perpetuity all the happiness which his nature is capable of enjoying, — that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/there-is-but-one-mode-by-which-man-can-possess-in-perpetuity-all-the/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [Never argue, repeat your assertion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/never-argue-repeat-your-assertion/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [“All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/all-the-world-is-queer-save-thee-and-me-and-even-thou-art-a-little/) [robert owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [God and the Doctor we alike adore But only when in danger, not before; The danger o'er, both are alike requited, God is forgotten,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/god-and-the-doctor-we-alike-adore-but-only-when-in-danger-not-before/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [Chastity is sexual intercourse with affection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/chastity-is-sexual-intercourse-with-affection/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [To train and educate the rising generation will at all times be the first object of society, to which every other will be subordinate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/to-train-and-educate-the-rising-generation-will-at-all-times-be-the/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [Women will be no longer made the slaves of, or dependent upon men...They will be equal in education, rights, privileges and personal liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/women-will-be-no-longer-made-the-slaves-of-or-dependent-upon-men-they/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [Society may be formed so as to exist without crime, without poverty, with health greatly improved, with little, if any misery, and with intelligence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/society-may-be-formed-so-as-to-exist-without-crime-without-poverty/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [Finding that no religion was based upon facts, but that all of them were in opposition to facts, and could not therefore be true,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/finding-that-no-religion-was-based-upon-facts-but-that-all-of-them/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [My life was not useless; I gave important truths to the world, and it was only for want of understanding that they were disregarded.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/my-life-was-not-useless-i-gave-important-truths-to-the-world-and-it/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [Man is the creature of circumstances.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/man-is-the-creature-of-circumstances/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) > [Where are these rational practices to be taught and acquired? Not within the four walls of a bare building, in which formality predominates... But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-owen/where-are-these-rational-practices-to-be-taught-and-acquired-not/) [Robert Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) [Explore all 37 Robert Owen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-owen/) ## More Humanity quotes > [Scrabble - The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/scrabble-the-game-is-available-in-braille-that-s-a-nice-fact-this/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-of-course-that-the-curtness-of-the-ten-commandments-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/half-the-misery-of-human-life-might-be-extinguished-if-men-would/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [“Is it necessary to recall that the earth is not infinite, and that our civilization is close to having invaded all of it? The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-tarde/is-it-necessary-to-recall-that-the-earth-is-not-infinite-and-that-our/) [Gabriel Tarde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-tarde/) > [“If attempting to make the world a civilized one, makes you a bad woman in the eyes of the dumb patriarchal society, then, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/if-attempting-to-make-the-world-a-civilized-one-makes-you-a-bad-woman/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Once the switch of parenthood is thrown, it changes you for ever & you can never escape the extra pull of humanity it gives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hammond/once-the-switch-of-parenthood-is-thrown-it-changes-you-for-ever-you/) [Richard hammond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hammond/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“Is there any holy beings like human beings?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/is-there-any-holy-beings-like-human-beings/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“I now know that deep within the human concept is something dark, selfish, and completely willing to do whatever is necessary to support the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-west/i-now-know-that-deep-within-the-human-concept-is-something-dark/) [Melissa West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-west/) > [The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-schmitt/the-concept-of-humanity-is-an-especially-useful-ideological/) [Carl Schmitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-schmitt/) > [“He grew away from old associations, and saw something new in life and humanity. Secondarily, he made close acquaintance with phenomena which he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/he-grew-away-from-old-associations-and-saw-something-new-in-life-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [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/) > [He is not humanity deified. He is not Godhead humanized. He is God. He is man. He is all that God is, and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/he-is-not-humanity-deified-he-is-not-godhead-humanized-he-is-god-he/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [You must not lose faith in humanity. 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