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Emily Greene Balch Quotes

Powerful Emily Greene Balch for Daily Growth

About Emily Greene Balch

Emily Greene Balch (November 25, 1867 – January 26, 1961) was an influential American sociologist, peace activist, and Quaker. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she grew up in a socially conscious family that instilled in her a strong sense of social justice. She earned a Bachelor's degree from Wellesley College in 1889 and a Ph.D. in economics from Johns Hopkins University in 1899, becoming one of the first women to receive a doctorate from that institution. Balch began her academic career at Wellesley College but left in 1902 to work as a settlement worker in Boston's North End. Her experiences there profoundly influenced her sociological thought, leading her to focus on urban poverty and immigration issues. In 1907, she joined the Sociology Department at Bryn Mawr College, where she remained until her retirement in 1938. Balch is best known for her work on international peace and conflict resolution. She was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in 1915 and served as its president from 1923 to 1934. During World War I, she was one of four American women invited to serve on the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace. Her work with WILPF earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946, which she shared with John R. Mott. Balch's most significant work is "Our Slavic neighbors: a study of migratory peasantry and its significance to the United States" (1913), in which she analyzed the impact of migration on American cities and society. Her other notable works include "The Craftsman in America" (1911) and "Starting Social Research" (1928). Emily Greene Balch's contributions to sociology, peace activism, and women's rights continue to inspire scholars and social reformers today.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"In a world full of changing ideas, it is unfortunate that tolerance is still so rare."

This quote underscores the persistent need for understanding and acceptance amidst the dynamic landscape of thoughts and beliefs in our society. Despite the evolution of ideas, intolerance remains prevalent, highlighting the ongoing challenge to foster a more compassionate, inclusive world where diverse perspectives are not just respected but celebrated.

"What I want to achieve in this world is no less than peace and understanding between men."

This quote by Emily Greene Balch expresses a strong desire for harmony, mutual respect, and comprehension among humanity as a whole. She aims to attain global peace through fostering greater understanding between people. It underscores the importance of communication, empathy, and cooperation in resolving conflicts and building a more cohesive world.

"To be really good, a reformer must be a little mad."

Emily Greene Balch suggests that true reformers, those who bring about significant change, may exhibit an unconventional or unorthodox mindset, often driven by a deep passion for justice and a refusal to accept the status quo. This "madness" stems from their relentless pursuit of progress, their courage in challenging the norms, and their unwillingness to compromise on values that promote positive social change.

"Patriotism is usually meant to imply a certain mental blindness."

This quote suggests that an excessive form of nationalism, or patriotism, often leads individuals to overlook flaws or mistakes in their own country, promoting a narrow-minded view and disregard for other nations' perspectives or problems. Balch argues that true progress and understanding can only come from open-mindedness and critical thinking towards one's own country and others.

"There are two things that will always be true - human beings have an incredible capacity for both good and evil."

The quote emphasizes the duality inherent in human nature, suggesting we possess a remarkable potential to exhibit both positive and negative traits. This observation encourages empathy and understanding towards humanity as a whole, acknowledging that individuals can contribute positively or negatively to society. It underscores the importance of nurturing our capacity for good while being mindful of the potential for evil, ultimately emphasizing that humans have the agency to shape their own destinies.

Technology gives us the facilities that lessen the barriers of time and distance - the telegraph and cable, the telephone, radio, and the rest.

- Emily Greene Balch

Rest, Distance, Telephone, Barriers

The future will be determined in part by happenings that it is impossible to foresee; it will also be influenced by trends that are now existent and observable.

- Emily Greene Balch

Will, Influenced, Part, Happenings

Probably people always feel that they are living in a time of transition, but we can hardly be mistaken perhaps in thinking that this is an era of particularly momentous change, rapid and proceeding at an ever quickening rate.

- Emily Greene Balch

Living, Always, Particularly, Quickening

These wars appear also to have given its death blow to colonialism and to imperialism in its colonial form, under which weaker peoples were treated as possessions to be economically exploited. At least we hope that such colonialism is on the way out.

- Emily Greene Balch

Hope, Death, Least, Weaker

Industrialization based on machinery, already referred to as a characteristic of our age, is but one aspect of the revolution that is being wrought by technology.

- Emily Greene Balch

Technology, Being, Based, One Aspect

We speculate as to what is in store for us. But we not only undergo events, we in part cause them or at least influence their course. We have not only to study them but to act.

- Emily Greene Balch

Study, Part, Least, Undergo

Another cause of change, one less noticeable but fundamental, is the modern growth of population closely connected with scientific and medical discoveries. It is interesting that the United Nations has set up a special Commission to study this question.

- Emily Greene Balch

Medical, Study, United, Noticeable

A dark and terrible side of this sense of community of interests is the fear of a horrible common destiny which in these days of atomic weapons darkens men's minds all around the globe.

- Emily Greene Balch

Destiny, Side, Which, Weapons

There is a great interest in comparative religion and a desire to understand faiths other than our own and even to experiment with exotic cults.

- Emily Greene Balch

Desire, Other, Faiths, Comparative

A major one which no one can overlook is technological and based on inventions and discoveries which have altered the whole basis of production and deeply affected social relations.

- Emily Greene Balch

Production, Which, Based, Relations

Those who are rooted in the depths that are eternal and unchangeable and who rely on unshakeable principles, face change full of courage, courage based on faith.

- Emily Greene Balch

Change, Faith, Based, Depths

We have lived through the flood time of fascism and of the nazism which ran its meteoric course at a cost to mankind in suffering and waste beyond all computation.

- Emily Greene Balch

Through, Waste, Which, Fascism

The First World War, and especially the latest one, largely swept away what was left in Europe of feudalism and of feudal landlords, especially in Poland, Hungary, and the South East generally.

- Emily Greene Balch

Away, South, Poland, Landlords

As to judging our own time, and thereby gaining some basis for a judgment of future possibilities, we are doubtless not only too close to it to appraise it but too much formed by it and enclosed within it to do so.

- Emily Greene Balch

Possibilities, Some, Gaining, Appraise

A second characteristic of our time is the prevalence of nationalism. This is still spreading, affecting new communities, more peripheral regions and so-called backward peoples.

- Emily Greene Balch

New, Still, Peripheral, So-Called

It is natural to try to understand one's own time and to seek to analyse the forces that move it.

- Emily Greene Balch

Own, Natural, Move, Analyse

In listing these tendencies making for a new world, we must not forget developments in the religious or spiritual thinking and feeling of mankind, where also we feel a strong unifying trend.

- Emily Greene Balch

New, Making, Religious, New World

Without a common loyalty to either a state or a church they have nevertheless a vast deal in common.

- Emily Greene Balch

Deal, Either, Nevertheless, Vast

The role of Italy and of Austria has diminished as has that of France and Britain; Germany and Japan have suffered catastrophically.

- Emily Greene Balch

Role, Diminished, Britain, Austria

The desire for liberty has also made itself felt as struggle against domestic tyranny or arbitrary rule.

- Emily Greene Balch

Desire, Domestic, Itself, Arbitrary

A third ideal that has made its way in the modern world is reliance on reason, especially reason disciplined and enriched by modern science. An eternal basis of human intercommunication is reason.

- Emily Greene Balch

Reason, Ideal, Disciplined, Reliance

Men who are scandalized at the lack of freedom in Russia do not ask themselves how real is liberty among the poor, the weak, and the ignorant in capitalist society.

- Emily Greene Balch

Real, Lack, Capitalist, Ignorant

The question whether the long effort to put an end to war can succeed without another major convulsion challenges not only our minds but our sense of responsibility.

- Emily Greene Balch

War, Challenges, Question, Major

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