How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)
Quote #1
Why has so little been accomplished?--in spite of all our acknowledged love of children, all our generosity, all our good-will, all the enormous spending of millions on philanthropy and charities, all our warm-hearted sentiment, all our incessant activity and social consciousness? Why? (11-12)
Sanger poses some serious questions to get her listeners to think about the fact that just doing a lot of charitable work doesn't solve the real problem: too many babies are born into poverty. How would you answer her questions, and how do you think her listeners would answer them?
Quote #2
So far we have not been gardeners. We have only been a sort of silly reception committee. (20-21)
What Sanger doesn't mention is the difference between gardening and throwing a tea party. Gardening requires getting your hands dirty, but you can hold fancy receptions all day long and feel like you're doing something good without actually having to deal with anything gross. That's her point, in fact: she wants her listeners to get involved in the birth control movement and get their hands dirty. (Metaphorically, anyway—but also perhaps literally. Slums aren't known for their cleanliness.)
Quote #3
When we point the one immediate practical way toward order and beauty in society, the only way to lay the foundations of a society composed of happy children, happy women and happy men, they call this idea indecent and immoral. (29)
Sanger is talking about birth control, and she highlights both the link between birth control and happy families she believes exists and her opponents' failure to acknowledge it. Imagine you were one of Sanger's opponents. What do you find "indecent and immoral" about birth control? What would you present as an alternative to help create happy families?
Quote #4
It is not enough to open playgrounds, and build more public schools in which we can standardize the minds of the young. It is not enough, to throw millions upon millions of dollars into charities and philanthropies. Don't deceive ourselves that by so doing so we are making the world "Safe for Children." (33-35)
Oh, snap. Sanger lowers the boom on people who like to throw money at things and feel good about themselves. None of this is going to do any good, says Sanger, until we recognize that there's a limit to the number of children women can safely and happily carry and care for, and that limit is up to no one but the woman herself.
Quote #5
Our opponents declare that children are conceived in love, and that every new-born baby converts its parents to love and unselfishness. My answer is to point to the asylums, the hospitals, the ever-growing institutions for the unfit. Look into the family history of those who are feeble-minded; or behind the bars of jails and prisons. (45-47)
People still say stuff like this. There's even a country song that claims every single person is born because "two people fell in love." It's a nice thought, but it's obviously not true, which is Sanger's point. People are born, she says, because their parents have sex without using contraception. Love may or may not have anything to do with it.