Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote "A guy in financial obligation is so far a slave" speaks to the power of financial obligation and how it can oppress an individual. Debt can be a heavy concern, and it can remove a person's liberty and autonomy. When an individual is in debt, they are frequently required to make choices based on their financial circumstance, instead of what is finest for them. They might have to handle jobs they do not desire, or make sacrifices in order to settle their financial obligation. Debt can likewise lead to sensations of pity and guilt, as the person may feel like they are not in control of their own life. Emerson's quote is a suggestion that debt can be an effective force, and it can eliminate an individual's liberty and autonomy.
"Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves"
"Our dependency makes slaves out of us, especially if this dependency is a dependency of our self-esteem. If you need encouragement, praise, pats on the back from everybody, then you make everybody your judge"
"The perfection of our union, especially our commitment to equality of opportunity, has been a story of constant striving to live up to our Founding principles. This is what Abraham Lincoln meant when he said, 'In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve.'"
"The proposition of an established classification of states as slave states and free states, as insisted on by some, and into northern and southern, as maintained by others, seems to me purely imaginary, and of course the supposed equilibrium of those classes a mere conceit"
