Disease generally begins that equality which death completes.
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #48 (1 Sep 1750)
(Source)
Quotations about:
humanity
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
The State exists for man, not man for the State.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-American physicist
“The Road to Peace,” New York Times (22 Nov 1931)
(Source)
In The World As I See It [tr. Harris (1934)], given as "The State is made for man, not man for the State."
One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings, as we take our place among them.
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English modernist writer [b. Adeline Virginia Stephen]
“Hours in a Library,” Times Literary Supplement (London) (30 Nov 1916)
It behooves all men who wish to excel the other animals to strive with might and main not to pass through life unheralded, like the beasts, which Nature has fashioned groveling and slaves to the belly. All our power, on the contrary, lies in both mind and body; we employ the mind to rule, the body rather to serve; the one we have in common with the Gods, the other with the brutes. Therefore I find it becoming, in seeking renown, that we should employ the resources of the intellect rather than those of brute strength, to the end that, since the span of life which we enjoy is short, we may make the memory of our lives as long as possible.
[Omnis homines qui sese student praestare ceteris animalibus summa ope niti decet ne vitam silentio transeant veluti pecora, quae natura prona atque ventri oboedientia finxit. Sed nostra omnis vis in animo et corpore sita est; animi imperio, corporis servitio magis utimur; alterum nobis cum dis, alterum cum beluis commune est. Quo mihi rectius videtur ingeni quam virium opibus gloriam quaerere et, quoniam vita ipsa qua fruimur brevis est, memoriam nostri quam maxume longam efficere.]
Sallust (c. 86–35 BC) Roman historian and politician [Gaius Sallustius Crispus]
Bellum Catilinae [The War of Catiline; The Conspiracy of Catiline], ch. 1, sent. 1-3 [tr. Rolfe (1931)]
(Source)
Original Latin. Other translations:"To maintain the dignity of human nature is the true ambition of man; and to that end it becomes the duty of all, who aspire to distinguish themselves from the race of inferior animals, to exert their most strenuous efforts, lest they pass their days in silence, like the herds of the field, formed by nature prone to the earth, and governed altogether by the incitements of appetite. Man is composed of mind and body, and in the exercise of both consists the energy of his nature. The mind is the directing principle; the body is subservient. The former we participate with the gods; the latter we hold in common with the brute creation. Hence the fame acquired by our intellectual powers has ever appeared to me the truest glory, far superior to all that can be achieved by mere corporeal vigor; and since the life we enjoy is frail and transitory, it should be the endeavour of every man to extend his fame, and leave a lasting memorial of his existence." [tr. Murphy (1807)]"Men who would act up to the dignity of their nature ought not to pass their lives in obscurity, like the beasts of the field, formed with bodies prone to the earth, and under necessary subjection to their appetites. Now, our faculties are twofold; those of the soul, and those of the body: the soul was designed for sovereign command, the body for subjection: the former we enjoy in common with the gods, the latter with the brute creation. So that to me it appears more agreeable to nature to pursue glory by the abilities of the mind than those of the body; and as our lives are but of short duration, it should be our study to render our memory immortal." [tr. Rose (1831)]"It becomes all men, who are anxious that they should excel other animals, to strive with their utmost might that they may not pass their life in silence like cattle, which nature has formed with their faces downwards, and slaves to their belly. But all our vigour is placed in the mind and in the body. We for the most part make use of the government of the mind, the submission of the body. The one we have in common with the gods, and the other with brutes. Wherefore it appears to me more proper to seek for glory by the abilities of the mind rather than by those of mere force; and since that life which we enjoy is short, to make the memory of ourselves as lasting as possible." [Source (1841)]"It becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals, to strive, to the utmost of their power, not to pass through life in obscurity, like the beasts of the field, which nature has formed groveling and subservient to appetite. All our power is situated in the mind and in the body. Of the mind we rather employ the government; of the body, the service. The one is common to us with the gods; the other with the brutes. It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable to pursue glory by means of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life which we enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible." [tr. Watson (1867)]"Every man who is anxious to excel the lower animals should strive with all his power not to pass his life in obscurity like the brute beasts, whom nature has made the grovelling slaves of their belly. Now our whole ability resides jointly in our mind and body. In the case of the mind it is its power of guidance, in the case of the body its obedient service that we rather use, sharing the former faculty with the gods, the latter with the brute creation. This being so, I think it right to seek repute by my powers rather of intellect than of strength, and since the very life which we enjoy is short, to make the memory of us as abiding as may be." [tr. Pollard (1882)]"All persons who are enthusiastic that they should transcend the other animals ought to strive with the utmost effort not to pass through a life of silence like the cattle, which nature has fashioned to be prone and obedient to their stomachs. Our entire power resides in the mind as well as the body: we use the mind to command, the body to serve; the former we share wit the gods, the latter with the beasts. Therefore it seems to me more correct to seek glory with our intellectual rather than with our physical resources, and, because the very life that we enjoy is short, to ensure that a recollection of ourselves lasts as long as possible. [tr. Woodman (2007)]
It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the motherland; but something in the Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in that Declaration of Independence.
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Speech (1861-02-22), Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(Source)
Text as reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer (1861-02-23).
The New York Tribune account gave for the second clause, "but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty."
One cannot suppress a certain indignation when one sees men’s actions on the great world-stage and finds, beside the wisdom that appears here and there among individuals, everything in the large woven together from folly, childish vanity, even from childish malice and destructiveness. In the end, one does not know what to think of the human race, so conceited in its gifts.
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher
“Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose [Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht]” (1784) [tr. Beck (1963)]
(Source)
I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats — any kind of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after death — then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in the circus with his whip, not the prophet who sacrificed himself. But don’t you see, this is just the point — what has for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but an inward music: the irresistible power of unarmed truth, the powerful attraction of its example.
Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator
Doctor Zhivago [До́ктор Жива́го], Part 1, ch. 2 “A Girl from a Different World” [Nikolai] (1955) [tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), US ed.]
(Source)
Other translations:I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats -- any kind of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after death -- then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in the circus with his whip, not the self-sacrificing preacher. But don’t you see, this is just the point -- what has for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but an inward music: the irresistible power of unarmed truth, the attraction of its example.
[tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), UK ed.]I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats -- any kind of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after death -- then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in the circus with his whip, not the prophet who sacrificed himself. But this is just the point -- what has for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel, but an inward music -- the irresistible power of unarmed truth.
[tr. Hayward & Harrai (1958); edited version quoted by Ronald Reagan, Moscow State University (1988-05-31)]I think that if the beast dormant in man could be stopped by the threat of, whatever, the lockup or requital beyond the grave, the highest emblem of mankind would be a lion tamer with his whip, and not the preacher who sacrifices himself. But the point is precisely this, that for centuries man has been raised above the animals and borne aloft not by the rod, but by music: the irresistibility of the unarmed truth, the attraction of its example.
[tr. Pevear & Volokhonsky (2010), "A Girl from a Different Circle"]
All things pass in time. We are far less significant than we imagine ourselves to be. All that we are, all that we have wrought, is but a shadow, no matter how durable it may seem. One day, when the last man has breathed his last breath, the sun will shine, the mountains will stand, the rain will fall, the streams will whisper — and they will not miss him.
Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Princeps’ Fury (2008)
As a whole, people suck, but a person can be extraordinary.
Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes, ch. 18 (2010)
He who imagines he can do without the world, deceives himself much: but he who fancies the world cannot do without him, is under a far greater deception.
[Celui qui croit pouvoir trouver en soi-même de quoi se passer de tout le monde se trompe fort; mais celui qui croit qu’on ne peut se passer de lui se trompe encore davantage.]François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶201 (1665-1678) [ed. Carvill (1835), ¶81]
(Source)
Appeared in the 1st ed. (1665). In manuscript, the first part "Celui qui croit pouvoir trouver en soi-même de quoi se passer de tout le monde" reads "Celui qui croit pouvoir se passer de tout le monde" ("He who believes that he can find in himself enough to do without everyone" reads "He who believes he can do without everyone.").
(Source (French)). Other translations:He that fansies such a sufficiency in himself, that he can live without all the World, is mightily mistaken; but he that imagines himself so necessary, that other people cannot live without him, is a great deal more mistaken.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶202]He who imagines he can do without the world deceives himself much; but he who fancies the world cannot do without him is still more mistaken.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶93; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶192]He who thinks he can find in himself the means of doing without others is much mistaken; but he who thinks that others cannot do without him is still more mistaken.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶210]He who thinks he has the power to content the world greatly deceives himself, but he who thinks that the world cannot be content with him deceives himself yet more.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶201]The man who thinks he can do without the world errs; but the man who thinks the world can [sic] do without him is in still greater error.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶206]It is a great mistake for a man to suppose that he can dispense with the world; but it is a much greater one to suppose that the world cannot dispense with him.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶201]A man who believes that his inner resources are such that he can dispense with his fellow-men is committing a serious mistake: it is not, however, so serious as that of the man who believes himself indispensable to others.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶201]The man who thinks he can do without the world is indeed mistaken; but the man who thinks the world cannot do without him is mistaken even worse.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶201]The man who thinks he can find enough in himself to be able to dispense with everybody else makes a great mistake, but the man who thinks he is indispensable to others makes an even greater.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶201]He who believes that he can make do without any one else in the world, is very mistaken; but he who believes that nobody in the world could make do without him, deceives himself still more greatly.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶201]
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all — the apathy of human beings.
Many people genuinely do not wish to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1949-01), “Reflections on Gandhi,” Partisan Review
(Source)
We need supermen to rule us — the job is so vast and the need for wise judgment is so urgent. But, alas, there are no supermen. Those who rule us are like you and me. It is a frightening situation.
Brooks Atkinson (1894–1984) American drama critic and journalist
Once Around the Sun, “January 27” (1951)
(Source)
I am persuaded that the people of the world have no grievances, one against the other. The hopes and desires of a man who tills the soil are about the same whether he lives on the banks of the Colorado or on the banks of the Danube.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963–69)
Speech (1947-05-07), House of Representatives
(Source)
As part of an argument that the increasing tension between the Soviet Union and the US was over ideology and government actions, not between peoples.
MIRANDA: O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Tempest, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 250ff (5.1.250-253) (1611)
(Source)
Above all things, lose no occasion of exercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be charitable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly, courageous, &c. Consider every act of this kind, as an exercise which will strengthen your moral faculties and increase your worth.
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801–09)
Letter (1787-08-10) to Peter Carr
(Source)
Alcohol is nicissary f’r a man so that now an’ thin he can have a good opinion iv himsilf, ondisturbed be th’ facts.
[Alcohol is necessary for a man so that now and then he can have a good opinion of himself, undisturbed by the facts.]
Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American humorist and journalist
“Mr. Dooley on Alcohol,” Chicago Tribune (26 Apr 1914)
We hope that the world will not narrow into a neighborhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963–69)
Speech (1963-12-17), Pageant of Peace Ceremonies, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
Johnson used this phrase many times in the early '60s to refer to how, as the world "shrank" through advances in travel (including for weapons), it had not resolved the ongoing problems within humanity, only brought them closer. Other examples:We live in a world which has narrowed into a neighborhood before it broadened into a brotherhood.
[Reported (1961-08-01)]The world has narrowed to a neighborhood before it has broadened to brotherhood.
[Speech, New York City (1963-12-17)]
See also King (1954).
SHYLOCK: He hath disgraced me and
hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses,
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted
my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies —
and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not
a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions,
senses, affections, passions? Fed with the
same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to
the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer
as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not
bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you
poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall
we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong
a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian
example? Why, revenge! The villainy you teach me I
will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the
instruction.William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Merchant of Venice, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 53ff (3.1.53-72) (1597)
(Source)
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, ch. 25 (1898)
I find myself always struck and stimulated by a good anecdote, any trait of heroism, of faithful service. I do not find that the age or country makes the least difference; no, nor the language the actor spoke, nor the religion which they professed, — whether Arab in the desert, or Frenchman in the Academy. I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion of well-doing and daring, men of sturdy truth, men of integrity and feeling for others.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“The Preacher,” lecture, Cambridge (1879-05-05)
(Source)
Communism reduces men to a cog in the wheel of the state. The communist may object, saying that in Marxian theory the state is an “interim reality” that will “wither away” when the classless society emerges. True — in theory; but it is also true that, while the state lasts, it is an end in itself. Man is a means to that end. He has no inalienable rights. His only rights are derived from, and conferred by, the state. Under such a system the fountain of freedom runs dry.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
(Source)
Here is the secret: A man is a very small thing whilst he works by and for himself but an immense and omnipotent worker as soon as he puts himself right with the law of nature. … It is as when you come to a conflagration with your fire engine — no matter how good the machine, you will make but a feeble spray, whilst you draw from your own tub. But once you get your hose … dipped in the river, or in the harbor, and you can ump as long as the sea holds out.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1855)
"Notebook WO Liberty"
O poor mortals, how ye make this Earth bitter for each other; this fearful and wonderful Life fearful and horrible; and Satan has his place in all hearts! Such agonies and ragings and wailings ye have, and have had, in all times: — to be buried all, in so deep silence; and the salt sea is not swoln with your tears.
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The French Revolution: A History, Part 1, Book 5, ch. 5 (1.5.5) (1837)
(Source)
As the prospect of violence mounts within Paris on the night of 13 July 1789. The next day was the storming of the Bastille.
We are living in the most destructive and, hence, the most stupid period of the history of our species.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1990), “A Poem of Difficult Hope,” What Are People For? (1990)
(Source)
I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth. I believe that the people is not dumb. Ignorant, bigoted, and mean-minded, maybe, but not stupid. I just think it helps, anything and everything, if the people know. Know what the hell is going on. What they do about it once they know is not my problem.
Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1973-01), “Pitfalls of Reporting in the Lone Star State,” Houston Journalism Review
(Source)
Her journalistic credo. Collected in Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (1991).
Man was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Notebook, 23 May 1903 [ed. Paine (1935)]
The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax.
Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 104 (1955)
(Source)
Man is neither villain nor hero; he is rather both villain and hero.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Strength to Love, ch. 11 “What Is Man?” (1963)
(Source)
Describing a more realistic view of humanity neither in "the thesis of pessimistic materialism nor the antithesis of optimistic humanism."
Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Nature in Men,” Essays, No. 38 (1625)
(Source)
A mighty lesson we inherit:
Thou art a symbol and a sign
To Mortals of their fate and force;
Like thee, Man is in part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source.
We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“The Idea of Progress,” Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920)
(Source)
This family has no outsiders. Everyone is an insider. When Jesus said, “I, if I am lifted up, will draw …” Did he say, “I will draw some”? “I will draw some, and tough luck for the others”? He said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all.” All! All! All! — Black, white, yellow; rich, poor; clever, not so clever; beautiful, not so beautiful. All! All! It is radical. All! Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Bush — all! All! All are to be held in this incredible embrace. Gay, lesbian, so-called “straight;” all! All! All are to be held in the incredible embrace of the love that won’t let us go.
Desmond Tutu (1931–2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
“And God Smiles,” Sermon, All Saints Church, Pasadena, California (6 Nov 2005)
The Bible passage referenced is John 12:32.
Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2
(Source)
This essay was inspired by his reading of Walter Savage Landor in 1833, with passages pulled from his lecture "Individualism," last in his course on "The Philosophy of History" (1836–1837), with other passages from the lectures "School," "Genius," and "Duty" in his course on "Human Life" (1838–1839).
Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Discourses on Livy, Book 1, Introduction (1517) [tr. Detmold (1882)]
Alt. trans.: "It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope." [Discourse upon the First Ten Books of Livy, Book 1, ch. 3 (1513-18) [tr. Gilbert]]
They do say that when a man starts down hill everybody is ready to help him with a kick, and I suppose it is so.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letter, San Francisco Alta California (15 Mar 1867)
It is man’s intelligence that makes him so often behave more stupidly than the beasts. … Man is impelled to invent theories to account for what happens in the world. Unfortunately, he is not quite intelligent enough, in most cases, to find correct explanations. So that when he acts on his theories, he behaves very often like a lunatic. Thus, no animal is clever enough, when there is a drought, to imagine that the rain is being withheld by evil spirits, or as punishment for its transgressions. Therefore you never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. No horse, for example would kill one of its foals to make the wind change direction. Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, intelligent enough.
The necessity of establishing some form of government [is] to supply the defect of moral virtue.
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American political philosopher and writer
Common Sense, “On the Origin and Design of Government in General” (14 Feb 1776)
Full text.
For as man is the best of the animals when perfected, so he is the worst of all when sundered from law and justice. For unrighteousness is most pernicious when possessed of weapons, and man is born possessing weapons for the use of wisdom and virtue, which it is possible to employ entirely for the opposite ends. Hence when devoid of virtue man is the most unholy and savage of animals, and the worst in regard to sexual indulgence and gluttony.
Aristotle (384–322 BC) Greek philosopher
Politics [Πολιτικά], Book 1, ch. 2 / 1253a.31 [tr. Rackham (1932)]
(Source)
Other translations:
For man is an animal which, just as it is when fully perfected the best of all, so when separated from law and justice, is the worst of all. For injustice is most difficult to cope with when armed. Man is born into the world in the possession of arms, in the shape of practical wisdom and moral excellence, which he can use to the fullest degree for exactly contrary objects; when destitute of virtue, he is an animal most unholy and most savage, and most viciously disposed toward sensuality and gluttony.
[tr. Bolland (1877)]For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with arms, meant to be used by intelligence and virtue, which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony.
[tr. Jowett (1885)]For as by the completion of it man is the most excellent of all living beings, so without law and justice he would be the worst of all, for nothing is so difficult to subdue as injustice in arms: but these arms man is born with, namely, prudence and valour, which he may apply to the most opposite purposes, for he who abuses them will be the most wicked, the most cruel, the most lustful, and most gluttonous being imaginable.
[tr. Ellis (1912)]For just as man is the best of animals when completed, when separated from law and adjudication he is the worst of all. For injustice is harshest when it is furnished with arms, and man is born naturally possessing arms for prudence and virtue which nevertheless are very susceptible to being used for their opposites. That is why, without virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the worst with regard to sex and food.
[tr. Lord (1984)]
HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“History,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)
Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1885-05-23).
These bare feet, these naked arms, these rags, these shades of ignorance, depths of despair, the gloom can be used for the conquest of the ideal. Look through the medium of the people, and you will discern the truth. This lowly sand that you trample underfoot, if you throw it into the furnace and let it melt and seethe, will become sparkling crystal; and thanks to such as this a Galileo and a Newton will discover the stars.
[Ces pieds nus, ces bras nus, ces haillons, ces ignorances, ces abjections, ces ténèbres, peuvent être employés à la conquête de l’idéal. Regardez à travers le peuple et vous apercevrez la vérité. Ce vil sable que vous foulez aux pieds, qu’on le jette dans la fournaise, qu’il y fonde et qu’il y bouillonne, il deviendra cristal splendide, et c’est grâce à lui que Galilée et Newton découvriront les astres.]
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
Les Misérables, Part 3 “Marius,” Book 1 “Paris in Microcosm,” ch. 12 (3.1.12) (1862) [tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]
(Source)
The author speaking, criticizing philosophers and scholars who dismiss the common people, or "mob."
(Source (French)). Other translations:These bare feet, these naked arms, these rags, these shades of ignorance, these depths of abjectness, these abysses of gloom may be employed in the conquest of the ideal. This lowly sand which you trample beneath your feet, if you cast it into the furnace, and let it melt and seethe, shall become resplendent crystal, and by means of such as it a Galileo and a Newton shall discover stars.
[tr. Wilbour (1862)]These bare feet, these naked arms, these rags, this ignorance, this abjectness, this darkness, may be employed for the conquest of the ideal. Look through the people, and you will perceive the truth; the vile sand which you trample under foot, when cast into the furnace and melted, will become splendid crystal, and by its aid Galileo and Newton discover stars.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]These bare feet, these bare arms, these rags, these ignorances, these abjectnesses, these darknesses, may be employed in the conquest of the ideal. Gaze past the people, and you will perceive truth. Let that vile sand which you trample under foot be cast into the furnace, let it melt and seethe there, it will become a splendid crystal, and it is thanks to it that Galileo and Newton will discover stars.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]Those bare feet and arms, the rags, the ignorance, the abjection, the dark places, all may be enlisted in the service of the ideal. Peer through the heart of the people and you will discover the truth. The common sand that you tread underfoot, let it be cast into the furnace to boil and melt and it will become a crystal as splendid as that through which Galileo and Newton discovered the stars.
[tr. Denny (1976)]These bare feet, bare arms, rags, this benightedness, degradation, darkness may be used for the conquest of the ideal. Look through the populace and you will see the truth. This vile sand you trample underfoot -- let it be thrown into the furnace, let it melt and bubble there. It will turn into clear crystal, and it is thanks to this crystal that Galileo and newton will discover the stars.
[tr. Donougher (2013)]
You read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important. Art would not be important if life were not important, and life is important.
James Baldwin (1924–1987) American novelist, playwright, activist
“An interview with James Baldwin” by Studs Terkel (1961), in Conversations With James Baldwin (1989)
(Source)
Baldwin revisited this theme multiple times.You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was Dostoevsky and Dickens who taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive. Only if we face these open wounds in ourselves can we understand them in other people. An artist is a sort of emotional or spiritual historian.
[Interview with Jane Howard, Life Magazine (24 May 1963)]You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.
["James Baldwin Recalls His Childhood," quoting from a television program, New York Times (31 May 1964)]
From these things therefore it is clear that the city-state is a natural growth, and that man is by nature a political animal, and a man that is by nature and not merely by fortune citiless is either low in the scale of humanity or above it, like the “clanless, lawless, hearthless” man reviled by Homer, for one by nature unsocial is also ‘a lover of war’ inasmuch as he is solitary, like an isolated piece at draughts.
[ἐκ τούτων οὖν φανερὸν ὅτι τῶν φύσει ἡ πόλις ἐστί, καὶ ὅτι ὁ ἄνθρωπος φύσει πολιτικὸν ζῷον, καὶ ὁ ἄπολις διὰ φύσιν καὶ οὐ διὰ τύχην ἤτοι φαῦλός ἐστιν, ἢ κρείττων ἢ ἄνθρωπος: ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ ὑφ᾽ Ὁμήρου λοιδορηθεὶς “ἀφρήτωρ ἀθέμιστος ἀνέστιος:” ἅμα γὰρ φύσει τοιοῦτος καὶ πολέμου ἐπιθυμητής, ἅτε περ ἄζυξ ὢν ὥσπερ ἐν πεττοῖς.]
Aristotle (384–322 BC) Greek philosopher
Politics [Πολιτικά], Book 1, ch. 2 / 1253a.2 [tr. Rackham (1932)]
(Source)
See Homer. Original Greek. Other translations:From these considerations, therefore, it is clear that the State is one of Nature's productions, and that man is by nature a social animal, and that a man who is without a country through natural taste and not misfortune is certainly degraded (or else a being superior to man), like that man reviled by Homer as clanless, lawless, homeless. For he is naturally of this character and desirous of war, since he has no ties, like an exposed piece in the game of backgammon.
[tr. Bolland (1877)]Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal. And he who by nature and not by mere accident is without a state, is either a bad man or above humanity; he is like the "tribeless, lawless, hearthless one," whom Homer denounces -- the natural outcast is forthwith a lover of war; he may be compared to an isolated piece at draughts.
[tr. Jowett (1885)]Hence it is evident that a city is a natural production, and that man is naturally a political animal, and that whosoever is naturally and not accidentally unfit for society, must be either inferior or superior to man: thus the man in Homer, who is reviled for being "without society, without law, without family." Such a one must naturally be of a quarrelsome disposition, and as solitary as the birds.
[tr. Ellis (1912)]From these things it is evident, then, that the city belongs among the things that exist by nature, and that man is by nature a political animal. He who is without a city through nature rather than chance is either a mean sort or superior to man; he is "without clan, without law, without hearth," like the person reproved by Homer; for the one who is such by nature has by this fact a desire for war, as if he were an isolated piece in a game of backgammon.
[tr. Lord (1984)]
An honest God’s the noblest work of man.
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 (1934)
See Pope.
I am human, I consider nothing human is alien to me.
[Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.]
Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], l. 77
Alt. trans.:
- "I am human [being], I consider nothing human to be alien to me."
- "I am a human being, so there is nothing human I do not feel to be my concern."
- "I am a human being; nothing human is alien to me."
We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent upon its vulnerable reserve of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and I will say, the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave — to the ancient enemies of mankind — half free in the liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew, can travel safely with such vast contradictions. On their resolutions depends the survival of us all.
Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1965-07-09), “Strengthening the International Development Institutions,” sec. 12, United Nations Economic and Social Council, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
(Source)
Stevenson was serving as UN Ambassador from the United States. He died of a heart attack on 1965-07-14, while in London after this trip. This was his last public address, and was read into the Congressional Record for the House of Representatives, 89th US Congress (1965-07-15) by Rep. Abraham Multer of New York.
In the relations of man with the animals, with the flowers, with the objects of creation, there is a great ethic, scarcely perceived as yet, which will at length break forth into light and which will be the corollary and compliment to human ethics.
[Il y a dans les rapports de l’homme avec les bêtes, avec les fleurs, avec les objets de la création, toute une grande morale à peine entrevue encore, mais qui finira par se faire jour et qui sera le corollaire et le complément de la morale humaine.]
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
The Alps and Pyrenees [Alpes et Pyrénées], “The Pyrenees,” ch. 11 “Pampeluna,” 1843-08-11 (1867) [tr. Manson (1898)]
(Source)
The more I see of people, the more I love my dog.
[Je mehr ich von den Menschen sehe, um so lieber habe ich meinen Hund.]
Frederick II (1712–1786) King of Prussia (Frederick the Great, Friedrich der Große)
(Attributed)
This quote is widely attributed to Frederick, but I cannot find a primary or contemporary citation. The earliest attribution to Frederick I find is in a comment attributed to Otto von Bismarck in French historian Constantin de Grünwald, Bismarck (1949):«Je suis comme Frederic II», dit-il à Radowitz: «Plus j'apprends à connaitre les hommes, plus je me mets à aimer les chiens.»
["I am like Frederick II," he told Radowitz: "The more I get to know men, the more I start to love dogs."]
[Google Translate]
As the earliest (unattributed) versions of this quote predate Bismark's adulthood, it is unlikely the formulation is originally his.
The quote is often misattributed to Charles de Gaulle, based on an article (1967-12-08), "Some General Comments, Entre Nous," Time Magazine, on political writer Jean-Raymond Tournoux's best-seller, La Tragédie du Général (1967). The article mistakes a use of the French phrase (translated as "The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs") as an attribution to De Gaulle, which, in context, it is a reference to the Bismarck quote above (and is in fact footnoted to de Grünwald's Bismarck):Dans le petit parc, la ronde familière continue. Au passage, le chien «Vincam», berger allemand au pédigrée rare, tire sa longue, longue chaine: «Une chose me torture», dit de Gaulle... «Cet animal enchainé ... C’est impossible ... Je ne peux plus le voir ... Donnez-le à l’amiral Ortoli.»
Sur ce terrain, il se sent de plain-pied avec Frederic II, avec Bismarck: «Plus j'apprends à connaitre les hommes, plus je me mets à aimer les chiens.»
[In the small park, the familiar round continues. As we pass, the dog "Vincam," a German shepherd with a rare pedigree, pulls on his long, long chain: "One thing is torturing me," says de Gaulle ... "This chained animal ... It's impossible ... I can't stand it anymore ... Give it to Admiral Ortoli."
On this ground, he feels on the same level as Frederick II, from Bismarck: "The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs."]
[Google Translate]
The same quote is also attribute to Blaise Pascal ("Plus je vois les hommes, plus j'aime mon chien"). I cannot find a primary source of his saying it, but it is attributed to him in an inscription in the Cimetière des Chiennes in Asnières on the Ile de la Recetre on the Seinne (1, 2, 3).
Similarly, it is often attributed to Madame Germaine de Staël ("The more I know men, the more I love dogs"). Again, I can find only attributions, not a primary souce (1, 2, 3) .
For additional discussion about this quotation and its origins, see:
I profoundly believe that there is on this horizon, as yet only dimly perceived, a new dawn of conscience. In that purer light, people will come to see themselves in each other, which is to say they will make themselves known to one another by their similarities rather than by their differences. Man’s knowledge of things will begin to be matched by man’s knowledge of self. The significance of a smaller world will be measured not in terms of military advantage, but in terms of advantage for the human community. It will be the triumph of the heartbeat over the drumbeat.
Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-10-24), “The United Nations: Our Hope and Commitment,” United Nations Day Radio Broadcast, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
Nature is indifferent to the survival of the human species, including Americans.
Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all — the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Last written note
(Source)Recorded by A. Paine (his literary executor), Mark Twain: A Biography, Vol III, Part 2, ch. 293 (1912).
Nature is neutral. Man has wrested from nature the power to make the world a desert or to make the desert bloom. There is no evil in the atom; only in men’s souls.
Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-09-18), “The Atomic Future,” Bushnell Memorial Auditorium, Hartford, Connecticut
(Source)
God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2
(Source)
The "work" being the actualized human being.
Inspired by his reading of Walter Savage Landor in 1833. Preliminary work, including this phrase, is found in Emerson's journal (1833-01-13). A small portion of the essay was from his lecture "Individualism," last in his course on "The Philosophy of History" (1836–1837), with other passages from the lectures "School," "Genius," and "Duty" in his course on "Human Life" (1838–1839).
The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man’s proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit — for gallantry in defeat — for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally-flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man, has no dedication nor any membership in literature.
John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer
Speech (1962-12-10), Nobel Prize Banquet, Stockholm
(Source)
Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion — several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letters from Earth (1939)
The human race consists of the damned and the ought-to-be-damned.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Notebook [ed. Paine (1935)]
Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American poet, memoirist, activist [b. Marguerite Ann Johnson]
Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, ch. 2 “Passports to Understanding” (1993)
(Source)
Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.
Laurens van der Post (1906–1996) Afrikaner author, conservationist, statesman, humanitarian
The Lost World of the Kalahari, ch. 3 (1958)
Conservatism stands on man’s incontestable limitations; reform on his indisputable infinitiude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“The Conservative,” lecture, Boston (1841-12-09)
Most of the members of the convent were old-fashioned Satanists, like their parents and grandparents before them. They’d been brought up to it and weren’t, when you got right down to it, particularly evil. Human beings mostly aren’t. They just get carried away by new ideas, like dressing up in jackboots and shooting people, or dressing up in white sheets and lynching people, or dressing up in tie-dye jeans and playing guitars at people. Offer people a new creed with a costume and their hearts and minds will follow.
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Good Omens, 2. “Eleven Years Ago” (1990) [with Neil Gaiman]
(Source)
NARRATOR: For instance, on the planet Earth Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much … the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.
Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 3rd” (BBC Radio) (1978-03-22)
(Source)
This is rendered the same (save for some punctuation polishing) in the novel form, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy No. 1, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 23 (1979):For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons.
In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.
Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) German politician
(Attributed)
Quoted by Dean Atchison in Arthur Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, ch. 11 (1965).
It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Good Omens, 2. “Eleven Years Ago” (1990) [with Neil Gaiman]
(Source)
Each nation has created a god, and the god has always resembled his creators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved, and he was invariably found on the side of those in power. Each god was intensely patriotic, and detested all nations but his own. All these gods demanded praise, flattery, and worship. Most of them were pleased with sacrifice, and the smell of innocent blood has ever been considered a divine perfume. All these gods have insisted upon having a vast number of priests, and the priests have always insisted upon being supported by the people, and the principal business of these priests has been to boast about their god, and to insist that he could easily vanquish all the other gods put together.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1872-01-29), “The Gods,” Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois
(Source)
An honest God is the noblest work of man.
For your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon — laughter. Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution — these can lift at a colossal humbug — push it a little — weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. You are always fussing and fighting with your other weapons. Do you ever use that one? No; you leave it lying rusting. As a race, do you ever use it at all? No; you lack sense and the courage.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Story (1916), The Mysterious Stranger, ch. 10
(Source)
Satan speaking. Often paraphrased: "The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter."
The novella was published posthumously (and with significant alterations by Twain's executor).
The above is taken from the Paine-Duneka text. An earlier version (of this story and passage) appear in The Chronicle of Young Satan, ch. 10 (c. 1898-12):For your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon -- laughter. Power, Money, Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution -- these can lift at a colossal humbug, -- push it a little -- crowd it a little -- weaken it a little, century by century: but only Laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand. You are always fussing and fighting with your other weapons: do you ever use that one? No, you leave it lying rusting. As a race, do you ever use it at all? No -- you lack sense and the courage.
Indeed, justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.
Alexander Solzhenitsen (1918–2008) Russian novelist, emigre [Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn]
Letter to three students (Oct 1967)
It is far more important to love your wife than to love God, and I will tell you why. You cannot help him, but you can help her. You can fill her life with the perfume of perpetual joy. It is far more important that you love your children than that you love Jesus Christ. And why? If he is God you cannot help him, but you can plant a little flower of happiness in every footstep of the child, from the cradle until you die in that child’s arms. Let me tell you to-day it is far more important to build a home than to erect a church. The holiest temple beneath the stars is a home that love has built. And the holiest altar in all the wide world is the fireside around which gather father and mother and the sweet babes.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
“What Must We Do to Be Saved?” Sec. 2 (1880)
All who have meant good work with their whole hearts, have done good work, although they may die before they have the time to sign it. Every heart that has beat strong and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind. And even if death catch people, like an open pitfall, and in mid-career, laying out vast projects, and planning monstrous foundations, flushed with hope, and their mouths full of boastful language, they should be at once tripped up and silenced: is there not something brave and spirited in such a termination? And does not life go down with a better grace, foaming in full body over a precipice, than miserably straggling to an end in sandy deltas?
NARRATOR: The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices — to be found in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own — for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to … the Twilight Zone.
Rod Serling (1924–1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
Twilight Zone, 1×02 “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” (4 Mar 1960)
All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Way of All Flesh, ch. 19 (1903)
Full text.
When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together.
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-03-30), “Thoughts in Westminster Abbey,” The Spectator, No. 26
(Source)
Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.
Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain.[Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens]
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German poet, playwright, critic [Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller]
The Maid of Orleans [Die Jungfrau von Orleans], Act III, sc. vi (1801) [tr. Swanwick]Alt. trans:
- "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
- "Against stupidity the gods themselves labor in vain."
- "Against stupidity the gods themselves fight unvictorious."
- "Against stupidity even the gods contend in vain."
- "With stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
- "With stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain."
To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors of power, to lament for the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind.
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
“Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents” (23 Apr 1770)
I never met a man I didn’t like.
Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist
Motto
(Source)
Rogers' first use of the phrase in writing comes from "Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat to His President," Saturday Evening Post (1926-11-06):I bet you if I had met him and had a chat with him, I would have found him a very interesting and human fellow, for I never yet met a man that I dident like. When you meet people, no matter what opinion you might have formed about them beforehand, why, after you meet them and see their angle and their personality, why, you can see a lot of good in all of them.
(Misspelling of "didn't" in the original.) Rogers was writing of his regrets over not having met Leon Trotsky while visiting the Soviet Union. The article was incorporated into a book Rogers published about the trip, "There's Not a Bathing Suit in Russia & Other Bare Facts, ch. 4 (1927).
Two other early references, the first from his "Weekly Article" column (1930-06-29):You know I have often said in answer to inquiries as to how I got away with kidding some of our public men, that it was because I liked all of them personally, and that if there was no malice in your heart there could be none in your "Gags," and I have always said I never met a man I didn't like.
And from a speech at a Boston church, the same month:I’ve got my epitaph all worked out. When I’m tucked away in the old graveyard west of Oologah [Oklahoma], I hope they will cut this epitaph -- or whatever you call them signs they put over gravestones -- on it, 'Here lies Will Rogers. He joked about every prominent man in his time, but he never met a man he didn’t like.'
That reference was picked up in AP news stories, and Rogers used the phrase for the rest of his life.
More info on Rogers' motto and the above quotations: here, here, and here.
I have spent all my life under a communist regime and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either. A society which is based on the letter of the law and never reaches any higher is taking very scarce advantage of the high level of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations, there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man’s noblest impulses.
Alexander Solzhenitsen (1918–2008) Russian novelist, emigre [Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn]
“A World Split Apart,” Commencement Address, Harvard (8 Jun 1978)
(Source)
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
Horace Mann (1796–1859) American politician, abolitionist, education reformer
Baccalaureate address, Antioch College, Ohio (1859)
Final public address.
So it is no good our mounting on stilts, for even on stilts we have to walk with our own legs; and upon the most exalted throne in the world it is still our own bottom that we sit on.
[Si, avons nous beau monter sur des échasses, car sur des échasses encore faut-il marcher de nos jambes. Et au plus élevé trône du monde, si ne sommes assis que sur notre cul.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 3, ch. 13 (3.13), “Of Experience [De l’Experience] (1587) [tr. Cohen (1958)]
(Source)
This essay first appeared in the 2nd (1588) edition, but this passage was added for the 1595 edition.
(Source (French)). Other translations:Wee may long enough get upon stilts, for, be we upon them, yet must we goe with our owne legges. And sit we upon the highest throne of the World, yet fit we upon our owne taile.
[tr. Florio (1603)]'Tis to much purpose to go upon Stilts, for when upon Stilts, we must yet walk upon our Legs: And when seated upon the most elevated Throne in the World, we are but seated upon our Breech.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]’Tis to much purpose to go upon stilts, for, when upon stilts, we must yet walk with our legs; and, when seated upon the most elevated throne in the world, we are but seated upon our breech.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]Much good does it do us to mount on stilts, for on stilts we must still walk with our legs; and on the loftiest throne in the world we sit only on our buttocks.
[tr. Ives (1925)]So it is no use to mount upon stilts, for even on stilts we must walk with our own legs. And even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]Yet there is no use our mounting on stilts, for on stilts we must still walk on our own legs. And on the loftiest throne in the world we are still sitting only on our own rump.
[tr. Frame (1943)]A fine thing to get up on stilts, for even on stilts we must ever walk on our legs! And upon the highest throne in the world, we are seated, still, upon our arses.
[tr. Screech (1987)]No matter that we may mount on stilts, we still must walk on our own legs. And on the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.
[Bartlett's]
Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. My peace of mind is often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed too heavily from the work of other men.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-American physicist
“What I Believe,” Forum and Century (Oct 1930)
(Source)
Einstein crafted and recrafted his credo multiple times in this period, and specifics are often muddled by differing translations and by his reuse of certain phrases in later writing. The Forum and Century entry appears to be the earliest. Some important variants:A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an undue amount of the labor of my fellow-men.
— "The World As I See It [Mein Weltbild]" [tr. Bargmann (1954)]A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to the simple life and am often oppressed by the feeling that I am engrossing an unnecessary amount of the labor of my fellowmen.
— "The World As I See It [Mein Weltbild]" [tr. Harris (1934)]I am often troubled by the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings, and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them.
[Oft bedrückt mich der Gedanke, in welchem Maße mein Leben auf der Arbeit meiner Mitmenschen aufgebaut ist, und ich weiß, wie viel ich Ihnen schulde.]
— Reduced variant in "My Credo [Mein Glaubensbekenntnis]" (Aug 1932)
Now we have come to the conclusion that every man has a right to think. Would God give a bird wings and make it a crime to fly? Would he give me brains and make it a crime to think? Any God that would damn one of his children for the expression of his honest thought wouldn’t make a decent thief. When I read a book and don’t believe it, I ought to say so. I will do so and take the consequences like a man.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Speech on Religious Intolerance, Pittsburgh Opera House (14 Oct 1879)
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-English novelist [b. Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski]
Under Western Eyes, Part 2, ch. 4 (1911)
(Source)
We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801–09)
Document (1776-06), “Declaration of Independence” (original rough draft)
(Source)
Compare to the final version, as modified and adopted by the Continental Congress.
Everyone is as God has made him, and oftentimes a great deal worse.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist
Don Quixote, 11.5
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood; that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“I Have a Dream,” speech, Washington, DC (28 Aug 1963)
Chi-lu asked how the spirits of the dead and the gods should be served. The Master said, “You are not able even to serve man. How can you serve the spirits?”
[季路問事鬼神。子曰、未能事人、焉能事鬼。]
Confucius (c. 551- c. 479 BC) Chinese philosopher, sage, politician [孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, K'ung Fu-tzu, K'ung Fu Tse), 孔子 (Kǒngzǐ, Chungni), 孔丘 (Kǒng Qiū, K'ung Ch'iu)]
The Analects [論語, 论语, Lúnyǔ], Book 11, verse 12 (11.12) (6th C. BC – AD 3rd C.) [tr. Lau (1979)]
(Source)
Brooks (below) suggests that this passage was interpolated into Book 11 around the time of Book 16. This analect was originally numbered 11.11 by Legge and other early translators (as noted below). (Source (Chinese)). Other translations:Chi Lu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, "While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?"
[tr. Legge (1861), 11.11]Tszlu propounded a question about ministering to the spirits ((of the departed). The Master replied, "Where there is scarcely the ability to minister to living men, how shall there be ability to minister to the spirits?"
[tr. Jennings (1895), 11.11]A disciple (the intrepid Chung Yu) enquired how one should behave towards the spirits of dead men. Confucius answered, "We cannot as yet do our duties to living men; why should we enquire about our duties to dead men?"
[tr. Ku Hung-Ming (1898), 11.11]When Chi Lu asked about his duty to the spirits the Master replied: "While still unable to do your duty to the living, how can you do your duty to the dead?"
[tr. Soothill (1910), 11.11]Chi Lu asked about the service for ghosts and spirits. Confucius said, You cannot be useful to the living, how can you be useful to (serve) ghosts?
[tr. Pound (1933), 11.11]Tsu-lu asked how one should serve ghosts and spirits. The master said, Till you have learnt to serve men, how can you serve ghosts?
[tr. Waley (1938), 11.11]You can’t treat spirits and divinities properly before you are able to treat your fellow men properly.
[tr. Ware (1950)]Zilu asked about serving ghosts and spirits. The Master said: "If one is not yet capable of serving men, how can one serve ghosts?"
[tr. Dawson (1993)]Zilu asked how to serve the spirits and gods. The Master said: "You are not yet able to serve men, how could you serve the spirits?"
[tr. Leys (1997)]When Ji-lu asked how to serve the spirits and gods, the Master said, "You cannot serve men yet; how can you serve the spirits?"
[tr. Huang (1997)]Jilu asked how to service the gods, Confucius said: "One could not service the human beings yet, how could one service the gods?"
[tr. Cai/Yu (1998), #272]Zilu asked how to serve the spirits and the gods. The master replied, "Not yet being able to serve other people, how would you be able to serve the spirits?"
[tr. Ames/Rosemont (1998)]Jì-Lì asked about serving ghosts and spirits. The Master said, You cannot yet serve men, how could you serve ghosts?
[tr. Brooks/Brooks (1998)]When Adept Lu asked about serving ghosts and spirits, the Master said, "You haven't learned to serve the living, so how could you serve ghosts?"
[tr. Hinton (1998)]Zilu asked about serving ghosts and spirits. The Master said, “You are not yet able to serve people -- how could you be able to serve ghosts and spirits?”
[tr. Slingerland (2003)]Jilu asked how one should serve the gods and spirits. The Master said, "When you don't yet know how to serve human beings, how can you serve the spirits?"
[tr. Watson (2007)]Jilu [Zilu] asked about how to serve the spirits of the dead and the gods. The Master said, "You can't even serve men properly, how can you serve the spirits?"
[tr. Annping Chin (2014)]Ji Lu asked about how to serve and worship gods and spirits. Confucius said, "You still have not served men well. Why do you bother serving gods and spirits?"
[tr. Li (2020)]If you don't know how to serve men, why worry about serving the gods?
[Common translation]
I am here to represent humanity: it is by no means necessary that I should live, but it is by all means necessary that I should act rightly.
Incorporated into “Essential Principles of Religion,” Lecture, Congregational Society, Boston (16 Mar 1862).
KEATING: We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.
PORTIUS: ‘Tis not in mortals to command success,
But we’ll do more, Sempronius; we’ll deserve it.Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Cato, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 43ff (1713)
(Source)
This passage was widely known to America's Founders; John Adams paraphrases it in a letter to his wife Abigail (1776-02-18), and George Washington in letters to Nicholas Cooke (1775-10-29) and, most famously, Benedict Arnold (1775-12-05).
On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-09), “The Art of Donald McGill,” Horizon Magazine
(Source)
Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.
John Watson (1850–1907) Scottish writer, preacher, theologian [pseud. Ian Maclaren]
The British Weekly (1897)
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. I try to increase the power God has given me to see the best in everything and every one, and make that Best a part of my life.
From his cradle to his grave a man never does a single thing which has any FIRST AND FOREMOST object but one — to secure peace of mind, spiritual comfort, for HIMSELF.
“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) English writer and social critic
A Christmas Carol (1843)
Let each man think himself an act of God,
His mind a thought, his life a breath of God;
And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds,
To shew the most of Heaven he hath in him.
And if I laugh at any mortal thing,
‘Tis that I may not weep.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experiences of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Last Chance to See, ch. 4 (1991)
(Source)
Human beings are like parts of a body,
created from the same essence.
When one part is hurt and in pain,
the others cannot remain in peace and be quiet.
If the misery of others leaves you indifferent
and with no feelings of sorrow,
You cannot be called a human being.بنیآدم اعضای یک دیگرند
که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرند
چو عضوى بهدرد آورَد روزگار
دگر عضوها را نمانَد قرار
تو کز محنت دیگران بیغمی
نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی
Sa'adi (1184–1283/1291?) Persian poet [a.k.a. Sa'di, Moslih Eddin Sa'adi, Mushrif-ud-Din Abdullah, Muslih-ud-Din Mushrif ibn Abdullah, Mosleh al-Din Saadi Shirazi, Shaikh Mosslehedin Saadi Shirazi]
“Bani Adam [The Children of Adam],” Gulistan [Rose Garden], ch. 1 “On the Conduct of Kings,” story 10 (1258)
(Source)
Also known as the "Poem on Humanity" or "Human Beings". This translation was quoted by President Carter in a toast to the Shah of Iran (31 Dec 1977). (Source (Persian)).
The poem, some of the most famous Persian/Iranian verses, was suggested as a motto for the League of Nations in 1928. It was long falsely rumored that the Bashiri translation (below) was posted as the entrance to the United Nations building in New York; however, a carpet with the poem inscribed in Persian was installed in 2005 in a meeting hall in the interior of the building. There is also a plaque on the wall of the UN commemorating the United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations (2001) with the Eastwick (1880?) translation (below).
Transliterations:[Bani Aadam `aazaye yek pigarand
Keh dar aafarinesh ze yek guharand
Cho `ozvi be dard aavarad rozigaar
Degar ozvahaa raa namaanad qaraar
To kaz mehnate digaraan bi ghami
Nashaayad ke naamat nahand Aadami]
[Source][banī ādam aʿzāy-e yek digarand
keh dar āfarīniesh zeh yek goharand
cho ʿozvī beh dard āwarad roozgār
degar ʿozvhā rā namānad qarār
to k'az meḥnat-e dīgarān bīghamī
nashāyad keh nāmat nahand ādamī]
[Source][Bani aadam a'adhaae yek peikarand,
Ke dar aafarinesh ze yek guharand.
Chu 'udhwi bedard aawarad ruuzgaar,
Degar 'udhwhaa raa namaanad gharaar.
Tu kaz mehnate digaraan biqamii,
Nashaayad ke naamat nehand aadami.]
[Farooqi (1987)]
Other translations:All Adam's race are members of one frame,
Since all, at first, from the same essence came.
When by hard fortune one limb is oppressed,
The other members lose their wonted rest:
If thou feel'st not for others' misery,
A son of Adam is no name for thee.
[tr. Eastwick (1852)]All human beings are members of one frame,
Since all, at first, from the same essence came.
When time afflicts a limb with pain
The other limbs at rest cannot remain.
If thou feel not for other’s misery
A human being is no name for thee.
[tr. Eastwick (1880?); it is suggested this is the 1880 translation by Eastwick, but that is the same as the 1852 above.]The sons of Adam are limbs of each other,
Having been created of one essence.
When the calamity of time affects one limb
The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
If thou hast no sympathy for the troubles of others
Thou art unworthy to be called by the name of a human.
[tr. Burton (1888)]All men are members of the same body,
Created from one essence.
If fate brings suffering to one member,
The others cannot stay at rest.
You who remain indifferent
To the burden of pain of others,
Do not deserve to be called human.
[tr. Rehatsek (1888)]All Adam's sons are limbs of one another
Each of the self-same substance as his brother.
So while one member suffers aches and grief,
The other members cannot win relief.
Thou, who are heedless of thy brother's pain,
It is not right at all to name thee man.
[tr. Arberry (1945)]Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
[tr. Aryanpour (1970)]Adam's sons are body limbs, to say;
For they're created of the same clay.
Should one organ be troubled by pain,
Others would suffer severe strain.
Thou, careless of people's suffering,
Deserve not the name, "human being."
[tr. Dastjerdi (1999)]Of One Essence is the Human Race,
Thusly has Creation put the Base.
One Limb impacted is sufficient,
For all Others to feel the Mace.
The Unconcern'd with Others' Plight,
Are but Brutes with Human Face.
[tr. Bashiri (2003)]All men and women are to each other
the limbs of a single body, each of us drawn
from life’s shimmering essence, God’s perfect pearl;
and when this life we share wounds one of us,
all share the hurt as if it were our own.
You, who will not feel another’s pain,
you forfeit the right to be called human.
[tr. Newman (2004)]Man’s sons are parts of one reality
Since all have sprung from one identity;
If one part of a body’s hurt, the rest
Cannot remain unmoved and undistressed;
If you’re not touched by others’ pain, the name
Of “man” is one you cannot rightly claim.
[tr. Davis (2012)]Human beings are limbs of one body indeed;
For, they’re created of the same soul and seed.
When one limb is afflicted with pain,
Other limbs will feel the bane.
He who has no sympathy for human suffering,
Is not worthy of being called a human being.
[tr. Salami]All human beings are in truth akin,
All in creation share in one origin.
When fate allots a member pangs and pains,
No ease for other members then remains.
If, unperturbed, another's grief canst can,
Thou are not worthy of the name of man.
[tr. Sharp]Human beings are body parts of each other,
In creation they are indeed of one essence.
If a body part is afflicted with pain,
Other body parts uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you shall not retain.
[Source]Adam's children are limbs of one body
That in creation are made of one gem.
When life and time hurt a limb,
Other limbs will not be at ease.
You who are not sad for the suffering of others,
Do not deserve to be called human.
[Source]The children of Adam are the members of each other,
who are in their creation from the same essence.
When day and age hurt one of these members,
other members will be left (with) no serenity.
If you are unsympathetic to the misery of others,
it is not right that they should call you a human being.
[Source]
Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; Man invents them.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Notebook [ed. Paine (1935)]
Now, the empire of man over things is founded on the arts and sciences alone, for nature is only to be commanded by obeying her.
[Hominis autem imperium in res, in solis artibus et scientiis ponitur. Naturae enim non imperatur, nisi parendo.]
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Instauratio Magna [The Great Instauration], Part 2 “Novum Organum [The New Organon],” Book 1, Aphorism # 129 (1620) [tr. Wood (1831)]
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:Now the empire of man over things depends wholly on the arts and sciences. For we cannot command nature except by obeying her.
[tr. Spedding (1858)]Now, the empire of man over things is founded on the Arts and Sciences alone, for Nature is only governed by obeying her.
[tr. Johnson (1859)]Now the empire of man over things likes solely in the arts and sciences. For one does not have empire over nature except by obeying her.
[tr. Silverthorne (2000)]Now -- this being the point I wanted to make·—man’s control over things depends wholly on the arts and sciences, for we can’t command nature except by obeying her.
[tr. Bennett (2017)]
Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be.
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English writer
Lectures on the English Comic Writers, Lecture 1 “On Wit and Humour” (1819)
(Source)
Sometimes altered to end "... and what they might have been."
Everyone is more or less mad on one point.
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English writer
“On the Strength of a Likeness”
Frightful this is in a sense, but it is true, and every one who has merely some little knowledge of the human heart can verify it: there is nothing to which a man holds so desperately as to his sin.
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher, theologian
Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays
There are two great rules in life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that every one can in the end get what he wants if he only tries. This is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is more or less of an exception to the general rule.
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
(Source)
Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad with power;
The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small;
The bee fertilizes the flower it robs;
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.Charles Beard (1874–1948) American historian
Summary of human history, in reply to George S. Counts
Do you covet honor? You will never get it by serving yourself. Do you covet distinction? You will get it only as you serve mankind. Do not forget, then, as you walk these classic places, why you are here. You are not here merely to prepare to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) US President (1913–20), educator, political scientist
Speech, Swarthmore College (25 Oct 1913)
(Source)
There are many humorous things in the world, among them the white man’s notion that he is less savage than the other savages.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, ch. 21 (1897)
(Source)
You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) German-American author, poet
Tales of Ordinary Madness, “Too Sensitive” (1967)
No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
John Donne (1572–1631) English poet
Devotions on Emergent Occasions, Meditation 17 (1624)
No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.
Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 1 (1862)
Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Essay (1950), “Variations on a Philosopher,” Themes and Variations
(Source)
We are face to face with new conceptions of the relations of property to human welfare, chiefly because certain advocates of the rights of property as against the rights of men have been pushing their claims too far. The man who wrongly holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must now give way to the advocate of human welfare, who rightly maintains that every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” Osawatomie, Kansas
(Source)
And that’s the world in a nutshell, an appropriate receptacle.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Stan Dunn
This world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel.
Horace Walpole (1717–1797) English novelist, letter writer
Letter to Anne, Countess of Upper Ossory (16 Aug 1776)
(Source)
Walpole frequently used used this phrase or variants in letters (and in fact prefaces this quote with "I have often said ..."). Another example is an earlier letter to Horace Mann (31 Dec 1769):I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel -- a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept.
It may be derived from an (unsourced) similar quote attributed Jean de La Bruyère: "Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think".
Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, ch. 66, epigraph (1897)
(Source)
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)
(Source)
Another phrase King used on repeated occasions, e.g., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Therefore, no American can afford to be apathetic about the problem of racial justice. It is a problem that meets every man at his front door" -- "The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousness," Speech, National Urban League, New York (6 Sep 1960).
To fight is a radical instinct; if men have nothing else to fight over they fight over words, fancies, or women, or they will fight because they dislike each other’s looks, or because they have met walking in opposite directions. To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.
George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American poet and philosopher [Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás]
The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, vol. 2 “Reason in Society” (1905)
(Source)
Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.
Viktor Frankl (1905–1997) German-American psychologist, writer
Man’s Search for Meaning (1959)
I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.
E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
“What I Believe,” The Nation (16 Jul 1938)
(Source)
Sometimes misquoted as: "If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the decency to betray my country."
