--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We should keep [the Panama Canal]. After…" description: "\"We should keep [the Panama Canal]. After all, we stole it fair and square.\" — S. I. Hayakawa" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e57/s-i-hayakawa-15018_canals_we-should-keep-the-panama-canal-after-al_1528053.jpg" --- # We should keep \[the Panama Canal\]. After all, we stole it… ![“We should keep [the Panama Canal]. After all, we stole it fair and square.” quote by S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e57/s-i-hayakawa-15018_canals_we-should-keep-the-panama-canal-after-al_1528053.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e57/s-i-hayakawa-15018_canals_we-should-keep-the-panama-canal-after-al_1528053.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e57/s-i-hayakawa-15018_canals_we-should-keep-the-panama-canal-after-al_1528053.jpg) > “We should keep \[the Panama Canal\]. After all, we stole it fair and square.” [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker justizes the canal’s acquisition as justified, ignoring ethical concerns. **In simple terms:** Justifies taking something as fair. Key Takeaway Consider moral implications of historical actions. Themes ethics history colonialism Mood critical thoughtful Type philosophical political When to use this quote - policy analysis - historical education - ethical debates Key Concepts justice political power Questions to Reflect On - Is fairness a valid excuse for exploitation? - How should we address past injustices? A Different Perspective Moral justification can be contested and harmful. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Canals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/canals/) [Panama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/panama/) [Panama canal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/panama-canal/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ## Related quotes > [Who's Britannica to tell me that the Panama Canal was built in 1914? If I want to say that it was built in 1941,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-colbert/who-s-britannica-to-tell-me-that-the-panama-canal-was-built-in-1914/) [Stephen Colbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-colbert/) > [I live on a boat, which is in the midst of renovation. 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Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [The meanings of words are not in the words, they are in us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/the-meanings-of-words-are-not-in-the-words-they-are-in-us/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [In the case of drama (stage, movies, television ), there appear to be people in almost every audience who never quite fully realize that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/in-the-case-of-drama-stage-movies-television-there-appear-to-be/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [Good teachers never say anything. What they do is create the conditions under which learning takes place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/good-teachers-never-say-anything-what-they-do-is-create-the/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [Agreement is brought about by changing people's minds - other people's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/agreement-is-brought-about-by-changing-people-s-minds-other-people-s/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [Republicans are people who, if you were drowning 50 feet from shore, would throw you a 25-foot rope and tell you to swim the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/republicans-are-people-who-if-you-were-drowning-50-feet-from-shore/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/in-a-very-real-sense-people-who-have-read-good-literature-have-lived/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) [Explore all 44 S. I. Hayakawa quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) ## More Canals quotes > [When you have a cavity in your tooth and you let it get worse, eventually you have to get a root canal. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-newton-john/when-you-have-a-cavity-in-your-tooth-and-you-let-it-get-worse/) [Olivia Newton-John](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-newton-john/) > [Actors do have good and bad sides. It's because the passage down the birth canal distorts the face. People born by caesarean section are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-griffiths/actors-do-have-good-and-bad-sides-it-s-because-the-passage-down-the/) [Richard Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-griffiths/) > [My daughter squealed again and both Bubba and I winced. It’s not an attractive sound, that. It’s high-pitched and it enters your ear canals…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-lehane/my-daughter-squealed-again-and-both-bubba-and-i-winced-it-s-not-an/) [Dennis Lehane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-lehane/) > [The citizens of Love Canal provided an example of how a blue-collar community with few resources can win against great odds (a multi-billion-dollar international…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lois-gibbs/the-citizens-of-love-canal-provided-an-example-of-how-a-blue-collar/) [Lois Gibbs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lois-gibbs/) > [The problem was that Panama technically belonged to Colombia, which refused to sign a treaty leasing it to the United States. So Roosevelt sent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-barry/the-problem-was-that-panama-technically-belonged-to-colombia-which/) [Dave Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-barry/) > [All this piling up of one technology on top of another-railroad on steamboat, interstate highway on railroad, hydroelectric dam on watermill-had reduced the Mississippi…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-raban/all-this-piling-up-of-one-technology-on-top-of-another-railroad-on/) [Jonathan Raban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-raban/) > [I miss that time. The cities back then, just after the forests died, were full of wonders, and you'd stumble on them--these princes of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-miss-that-time-the-cities-back-then-just-after-the-forests-died/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One learns little more about a man from his feats of literary memory than from the feats of his alimentary canal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-moore-colby/one-learns-little-more-about-a-man-from-his-feats-of-literary-memory/) [Frank Moore Colby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-moore-colby/) > [“The city's canals outnumber those in Venice,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lonely-planet/the-city-s-canals-outnumber-those-in-venice/) Lonely Planet > [dating you would be like a series of unnecessary root canals interspersed with occasional makeout sessions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/dating-you-would-be-like-a-series-of-unnecessary-root-canals/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I have had a number of patients with breast cancer, all of whom had root canals on the tooth related to the breast area…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-diamond/i-have-had-a-number-of-patients-with-breast-cancer-all-of-whom-had/) [John Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-diamond/) > [The digestive canal represents a tube passing through the entire organism and communicating with the external world, i.e. as it were the external surface…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/the-digestive-canal-represents-a-tube-passing-through-the-entire/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [People generally have more feeling for canals and roads than education. 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