Gunnar Myrdal

"The basis of all human cooperation is the willingness to see the other person as fundamentally like oneself."

"An inequality of capacities does not justify an inequality of freedom."

"Social problems are moral problems."

"The American Dilemma is the ever-raging conflict between the American ideals and American practices."

"Knowledge is not power if it is not used to change the world."

"We must learn to think in terms of the whole, not in fragments."

"Progress requires both vision and the courage to act on that vision."

"The greatest obstacle to understanding is the illusion that we already understand."

"Truth cannot be confined to those who already believe it."

"The future is not predetermined; it is shaped by our choices today."

"Segregation in the mind is the most profound form of injustice."

"Change begins when individuals recognize their power to shape society."

"Education is the most powerful weapon against ignorance and prejudice."

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them."

"Hope is not a passive sentiment but an active commitment to possibility."

"The study of society must be grounded in empirical reality."

"Freedom without responsibility is merely chaos."

"To understand others, we must first understand ourselves."

"Injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere."

"The human spirit is more powerful than any system of oppression."

"Value judgments are inevitable in social science; the task is to make them explicit."

"Democracy requires not just institutions but a commitment to democratic values."

"The concept of equality must be continually redefined and renewed."

"Work that lacks meaning is merely toil."

"Power without wisdom leads to tyranny."

"The pursuit of knowledge is the pursuit of freedom."

"Society advances through the moral awakening of its citizens."

"We are all implicated in the systems of injustice we inherit."

"Change is inevitable; progress is not."

"The most important facts are those we prefer not to see."