Mary Harris Jones

I nursed men back to sanity who were driven to despair. I solicited clothes for the ragged children, for the desperate mothers. I laid out the dead, the martyrs of the strike.

I'm not afraid of the press or the Militia.

I would fight God Almighty Himself if He didn't play square with me.

I have always advised men to read.

I went West and took part in the strike of the machinists - the Southern Pacific Railroad, the corporation that swung California by its golden tail, that controlled its legislature, its farmers, its preachers, its workers.

Little girls and boys, barefooted, walked up and down between the endless rows of spindles, reaching thin little hands into the machinery to repair snapped threads.

Sometimes it seemed to me I could not look at those silent little figures; that I must go north, to the grim coal fields, to the Rocky Mountain camps, where the labor fight is at least fought by grown men.

And who is responsible for this appalling child slavery? Everyone.

I believe that movements to suppress wrongs can be carried out under the protection of our flag.

The strike of the miners in Arizona was one of the most remarkable strikes in the history of the American labor movement. Its peaceful character, its successful outcome, were due to that most remarkable character, Governor Hunt.

What one state could not get alone, what one miner against a powerful corporation could not achieve, can be achieved by the union.

What is a good enough principle for an American citizen ought to be good enough for the working man to follow.

Out of labor's struggle in Arizona came better conditions for the workers, who must everywhere, at all times, under advantage and disadvantage work out their own salvation.

In Georgia where children work day and night in the cotton mills they have just passed a bill to protect song birds. What about the little children from whom all song is gone?

I want to hold a series of meetings all over the country and get the facts before the American people.

Men's hearts are cold. They are indifferent.

Not all the coal that is dug warms the world.

I am Mother Jones. The Government can't take my life and you can't take my arm, but you can take my suitcase.

You must stand for free speech in the streets.

I am not an anti to anything which will bring freedom to my class.

The miners lost because they had only the constitution. The other side had bayonets. In the end, bayonets always win.

I have never had a vote, and I have raised hell all over this country. You don't need a vote to raise hell! You need convictions and a voice!

Reformation, like education, is a journey, not a destination.

I believe that no man who holds a leader's position should ever accept favors from either side. He is then committed to show favors. A leader must stand alone.

Some day the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit!