Pauley Perrette

I have a big passion about civil rights for everyone - whoever is being downtrodden at the moment, it doesn't matter: racial discrimination or sexual orientation or gender. Whatever it is, I'm there. I think I was a born civil rights activist. I can't stand the smashing of a community. It's not fair and it's not right.

American Actress

Bill O'Reilly

President Obama is a utopian at heart. He wants to improve the lives of the downtrodden, which is a good thing. But, he doesn't understand that damaging the free marketplace in pursuit of 'social justice' will eventually harm those whom he wants to help. The nation's crushing debt is a tsunami brewing off shore.

American Journalist

Damian Lewis

Of course the lower classes have always felt downtrodden and aspired to a better life. But there is this theory that people respond to a class structure in England - there was a time when people knew who they were and knew whom they served and as long as management wasn't abusive, it was a good life for people.

English Actor

Rush Limbaugh

Obama and the Democrats are not focused on the moderates. They're focused on getting their base out, and they're trying to expand that base by forming sympathetic, empathetic alliances with the downtrodden, and there are a lot of downtrodden because Obama has made them that way via his policies.

American Entertainer

Shashi Tharoor

I believe in an India of pluralism and diversity, not of religious bigotry and caste politics. I believe in an India that is secure in itself and confident of its place in the world, an India that is a proud example of tolerance, freedom and hope for the downtrodden.

Indian Public Servant

Viola Davis

I have been given a lot of roles that are downtrodden, mammy-ish. A lot of lawyers or doctors who have names but absolutely no lives. You're going to get your three or four scenes; you're not going to be able to show what you can do.

Ginny Brown-Waite

For centuries, the world has heard the oppressed, the downtrodden and the vulnerable cry out for their freedoms, for their rights and for a chance to emerge from the shadows of the tyranny and bloodshed that they had lived with.

American Politician

John Singleton

My formative years would be in South Central Los Angeles. It was a really volatile environment, but, I always say, when you're living in the hood, you don't live this life where you're crying every day, downtrodden every day.

American Director

Maxine Peake

If I were to appear in a programme like 'Sex and the City,' I'm sure I'd be cast as the downtrodden one staying at home and having seven children while the others jet-setted around the world.

English Actress

Anthony Burgess

The downtrodden are the great creators of slang.

English Novelist

The word carries a sense of empathy and seriousness towards the struggles faced by certain groups.

Emotional Weight

'Downtrodden' is figurative and doesn't mean physically stepped on, but being in a powerless situation.

Not Literal

Can be used metaphorically to describe any entity (like a community or country) subjected to harsh treatment.

Extended Application

 It is often said that the stories of history are written by its victors, but if this is true, what becomes of the downtrodden, and how can they ever hope to aspire for something greater if they are never told the stories of their own glorious pasts?

Fashion that celebrates...

 And it made me wonder where could I find that connection in Aboriginal Australia today? Because it was so contrary to the prevalent story that I was hearing everywhere about the downtrodden indigenous group of Australia.

Amy Toensing: The...

 the story of a hidalgo, or idle nobleman, who spends his days and nights reading chivalry novels. Driven mad by these stories, he fashions himself a champion for the downtrodden. Everyone in his village