Robert Owen was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of Utopian socialism.
He worked in the cotton industry in Manchester before setting up a large mill at New Lanark in Scotland.
In 1824, Owen travelled to America to invest the bulk of his fortune in an experimental 1,000-member colony on the banks of Indiana’s Wabash River, called New Harmony. New Harmony was intended to be a Utopian society.
This is an awesome collection of the best Robert Owen quotes:
25 Educational Robert Owen Quotes
1. “Chastity is sexual intercourse with affection.” – Robert Owen
2. “Finding that no religion is based on facts and cannot therefore be true, I began to reflect what must be the condition of mankind trained from infancy to believe in errors.” – Robert Owen
3. “Is it not the interest of the human race, that every one should be so taught and placed, that he would find his highest enjoyment to arise from the continued practice of doing all in his power to promote the well-being.” – Robert Owen
4. “Man is the creature of circumstances.” – Robert Owen
5. “Never argue, repeat your assertion.” – Robert Owen
6. “Since the introduction of inanimate mechanism into British manufactories, man, with few exceptions, has been treated as a secondary and inferior machine; and far more attention has been given to perfect the raw materials of wood and metals than those of body and mind.” – Robert Owen
7. “The advantage of pure, and the disadvantage of impure air are experienced each time we breathe, and all who understand the causes of disease know that an impure atmosphere is most unfavourable to the enjoyment of health.” – Robert Owen
8. “There is but one mode by which man can possess in perpetuity all the happiness which his nature is capable of enjoying, — that is by the union and co-operation of all for the benefit of each.” – Robert Owen
9. “Where are these rational practices to be taught and acquired? Not within the four walls of a bare building, in which formality predominates… But in the nursery, play-ground, fields, gardens, workshops, manufactures, museums and class-rooms.” – Robert Owen
10th of 25 Robert Owen Quotes
10. “Courts of law, and all the paraphernalia and folly of law cannot be found in a rational state of society.” – Robert Owen
11. “God and the Doctor we alike adore But only when in danger, not before; The danger o’er, both are alike requited, God is forgotten, and the Doctor slighted.” – Robert Owen
12. “It is confidently expected that the period is at hand, when man, through ignorance, shall not much longer inflict unnecessary misery on man; because the mass of mankind will become enlightened, and will clearly discern that by so acting they will inevitably create misery to themselves.” – Robert Owen
13. “My life was not useless; I gave important truths to the world, and it was only for want of understanding that they were disregarded. I have been ahead of my time.” – Robert Owen
14. “No obstacle whatsoever intervenes at this moment except ignorance to prevent such a state of society from becoming universal.” – Robert Owen
15. “Society may be formed so as to exist without crime, without poverty, with health greatly improved, with little, if any misery, and with intelligence and happiness increased a hundredfold.” – Robert Owen
16. “The lowest stage of humanity is experienced when the individual must labour for a small pittance of wages from others.” – Robert Owen
17. “To preserve permanent good health, the state of mind must be taken into consideration.” – Robert Owen
18th of 25 Robert Owen Quotes
18. “Women will be no longer made the slaves of, or dependent upon men… They will be equal in education, rights, privileges and personal liberty.” – Robert Owen
19. “Eight hours daily labour is enough for any human being, and under proper arrangements sufficient to afford an ample supply of food, raiment and shelter, or the necessaries and comforts of life, and for the remainder of his time, every person is entitled to education, recreation and sleep.” – Robert Owen
20. “I was forced, through seeing the error of their foundation, to abandon all belief in every religion which had been taught to man. But my religious feelings were immediately replaced by the spirit of universal charity.” – Robert Owen
21. “It is therefore, the interest of all, that every one, from birth, should be well educated, physically and mentally, that society may be improved in its character.” – Robert Owen
22. “My reason taught me that I could not have made one of my own qualities – they were forced upon me by Nature; that my language, religion, and habits were forced upon me by Society.” – Robert Owen
23. “Of course quality is important but is it not the quality of an individual’s originality that is most important?” – Robert Owen
24. “The advanced members of the medical profession know that the health of society is not to be obtained or maintained by medicines; – that it is far better, far more easy and far wiser, to adopt substantive measures to prevent disease of body or mind.” – Robert Owen
25. “There are good hearts to serve men in palaces as in cottages.” – Robert Owen
Summary
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