General Strikes

Famous quotes containing the words general and/or strikes:

    We all have known
    Good critics, who have stamped out poet’s hopes;
    Good statesmen, who pulled ruin on the state;
    Good patriots, who, for a theory, risked a cause;
    Good kings, who disembowelled for a tax;
    Good Popes, who brought all good to jeopardy;
    Good Christians, who sat still in easy-chairs;
    And damned the general world for standing up.—
    Now, may the good God pardon all good men!
    Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)

    In really hard times the rules of the game are altered. The inchoate mass begins to stir. It becomes potent, and when it strikes,... it strikes with incredible emphasis. Those are the rare occasions when a national will emerges from the scattered, specialized, or indifferent blocs of voters who ordinarily elect the politicians. Those are for good or evil the great occasions in a nation’s history.
    Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)