“That the good of the individual is contained in the good of all. That a lawyer’s work has the same value as the barber’s inasmuch as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work. That a life of labour, i.e., the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman is the life worth living.”
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Probable attribution
This saying is widely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, but the attribution is not supported by a reliable primary source.
Likely origin: Gandhi's own summary (in his Autobiography) of the three lessons he drew from Ruskin's 'Unto This Last'.
About this quote
Bind your good to everyone's and a lot changes about how you live. You stop measuring success against neighbors who go without, you quit ranking one honest trade above another, and you stop treating manual work as a lesser fate. Dignity spreads evenly, or it isn't really dignity.
When to use it
- A firm that treats the cleaner's work as no less essential than the director's.
- An office worker who takes up carpentry on weekends and finds the labor deeply satisfying.
- A town that counts itself prosperous only once its poorest families are fed and housed.