Debs on Violating the Sedition Act: Time Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)

Quote #1

Standing here this morning, I recall my boyhood. At fourteen I went to work in a railroad shop […] (6-7)

Debs is brought back in time to his teenage years…just like your grandparents.

Quote #2

[…] [workers] whose lives are an unceasing struggle all the way from youth to old age, until at last death comes to their rescue and lulls these hapless victims to a dreamless sleep… (14)

Debs is really laying it on thick here, before he shifts into the logos section on the desirability of Socialism.

Quote #3

Sixty millions of Socialists [...] are waiting, watching, and working hopefully through all the hours of the day and night […] they have learned to be patient and bide their time. They feel—they know, indeed—that the time is coming. (22-28)

The use of alliteration helps Debs hammer home his point, and he doesn't directly talk about Russia's successful revolution here as evidence. His motivation for this is something to ponder, huh?

Quote #4

[...] With starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of time upon the dial of the universe [...] (37)

Debs is getting intensely metaphorical here. The image of the "dial of the universe" implies a lot about how Socialists must measure success.

Quote #5

[…] the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning. (38)

Again with the metaphors. This day/night imagery can be applied to Debs as well—his darkest hour may be his time behind bars, but it's also his most triumphant.