“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose, they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.” — Martin Luther King Jr. …

“I don’t think artists can avoid being political. Artists are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine. When we stop singing, it’s a sure sign of repressive times ahead.” — Theresa Bayer …

“Compassion is the basis of morality.” — Arthur Schopenhauer …

“We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth others are here for I don’t know.” — W.H. Auden …

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” — Dalai Lama

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“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” — Article 25 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights …

“The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.” — Albert Schweitzer …

“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” — Martin Luther King Jr. …

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower …

“The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.” — Thomas Paine …