The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Franklin D. Roosevelt used this line in the early New Deal era, when the United States was still grappling with the Great Depression’s mass unemployment, bank failures, and widespread poverty. As president, FDR argued that national “progress” should be measured not by aggregate wealth or the fortunes of the already prosperous, but by whether government and society secured a basic standard of living for those left behind. The sentiment reflects the moral and political rationale behind New Deal relief and reform—public works, social insurance, labor protections, and other measures aimed at economic security—framing them as a test of democratic responsibility rather than charity.

The quote redefines progress as distributive and humane rather than merely accumulative. Roosevelt contrasts two yardsticks: increasing the “abundance” of those already well-off versus ensuring sufficiency for those in deprivation. Implicitly, it critiques economic systems that celebrate growth while tolerating hardship, and it asserts that a society’s legitimacy is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable members. The line also functions rhetorically as a defense of active government: if the goal is “enough” for those with “too little,” then public policy must address unemployment, wages, and social welfare. It remains influential as a concise statement of social-democratic ethics.

1) “The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
2) “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”