class-cruelty

Updated: May 29, 2025

What are we to say when we see asceticism preached to the poor by fat and comfortable retainers of the rich? What are we to say when we see idealism become hypocrisy, and the moral and spiritual heritage of mankind twisted to the knavish purposes of class-cruelty and greed? What I say is Bootstrap-lifting! It is the fate of many abstract words to be used in two senses, one good and the other bad.

Upton Sinclair - The Profits of Religion