Robert Owen

"I have proven by example that morality and prosperity are compatible."

"The greatest gift we can give future generations is a system of just institutions."

"I believe that human nature, properly developed, tends toward virtue and happiness."

"The manufacture of happy, virtuous characters should be the aim of all education."

"I have spent my life attempting to prove the perfectibility of man."

"True freedom is impossible without knowledge and virtue."

"The poor must be liberated not by charity but by the transformation of society."

"I see in the principles of cooperation the salvation of mankind."

"The rational development of human faculties is the true path to civilization."

"The character of man is formed in the womb, and the influences to be exerted are almost altogether dependent on the qualities and circumstances of the mother."

"Society is a creation of human beings, not of nature; it can be modified and improved by human effort."

"The poor are not naturally improvident; they are made so by the circumstances in which they are placed."

"To promote the happiness of mankind should be the object of every being who has the power to influence events."

"Knowledge is power only when it is applied to the improvement of human conditions."

"The formation of character depends entirely upon the circumstances to which the individual is exposed."

"Competition is a system of warfare, and cooperation is a system of peace."

"Man is formed by circumstances; change the circumstances and you change the man."

"The highest happiness is produced by benevolence acting on a disposition naturally good."

"Education should develop all the faculties of the human mind, not merely train it for profit."

"Superior strength is only serviceable when it is guided by wisdom and directed by virtue."

"The poor man's wealth lies in his children and their education."

"Just laws and rational customs alone can make men happy."

"Without practical demonstration, theoretical knowledge remains merely abstract."

"The true reform of society begins with the education of the young."

"Man is not formed by laws and ceremonies, but by the impressions of his infancy."

"Poverty is not a sin, but ignorance and want of proper training are evils."

"The arrangement of society should be based on human nature, not on arbitrary power."

"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the power to do what we ought."

"The great object of society ought to be the happiness of all its members."

"Knowledge wrongly applied becomes a source of misery and destruction."