Mankind Quotes - Page 21

• Madame de Stael thought it was pride in mankind to endeavour to penetrate the secret of the universe; and speaking of the higher metaphysics she said: "I prefer the Lord's Prayer to it all."

  Madame de Stael

  Prayer, Pride, Secret

  "Sketch of the Life, Character, and Writings of Baroness de Stael-Holstein". Book by Albertine-Adrienne Necker de Saussure, 1820.

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• Beauty is one in the universe, and, whatever form it assumes, it always arouses a religious feeling in the hearts of mankind.

  Madame de Stael

  Religious, Heart, Feelings

  "Corinne, or Italy". Book by Madame de Stael, 1807.

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• All mankind rules its women, and we rule all mankind, but our women rule us.

  Cato the Elder

  The Classical weekly, Volumes 25-26 (p. 273), 1932.

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• Canada regards herself as responsible to all mankind for the peculiar ecological balance that now exists so precariously in the water, ice and land areas of the Arctic archipelago. We do not doubt for a moment that the rest of the world would find us at fault, and hold us liable, should we fail to ensure adequate protection of that environment from pollution or artificial deterioration.

  Pierre Trudeau

  Ice, Land, Water

  Pierre Trudeau during House of Commons Debate, October 24, 1969.

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• The condition of mankind is, and always has been, so miserable and depraved that, if anyone were to say to the poet: "For God's sake stop singing and do something useful like putting on the kettle or fetching bandages," what just reason could he give for refusing?

  W. H. Auden

  Giving, Singing, Sake

  "The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays" by W. H. Auden, ("Writing"), (p. 27), 1962.

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• In truth , mankind cannot be saved from without, by schoolmasters or any other sort of masters: it can only be lamed and enslaved by them. It is said that if you wash a cat it will never again wash itself. This may or may not be true : what is certain is that if you teach a man anything he will never learn it; and if you cure him of a disease he will be unable to cure himself the next time it attacks him.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Cat, Men, May

  George Bernard Shaw (2010). “Back to Methuselah”, p.11, The Floating Press

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• Geology has joined biology in lowering mankind's self-esteem. Geology suggests how mankind's existence is contingent upon the geological consent of the planet.

  George Will

  Self Esteem, Biology, Planets

  George Will (2008). “One Man's America: The Pleasures and Provocations of Our Singular Nation”, p.357, Crown Forum

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• That in these times every serious person should not in his heart have felt some difliculty with the doctrines of the incarnation, I cannot helieve. We are not as we were. When Christianity was first published, the imagination of mankind presented the relation of heaven to earth very differently from what it does now.

  James Anthony Froude

  Heart, Serious Person, Imagination

  "The Nemesis of Faith". Book by James Anthony Froude, 1849.

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• Poor man. Poor mankind.

  William Faulkner

  Men, Poor, Poor Man

  Francis Lee Utley, William Faulkner, Lynn Z. Bloom, Arthur F. Kinney (1971). “Bear, man, and God: eight approaches to William Faulkner's The bear”, Random House Inc

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• The history of mankind is a romance, a mask, a tragedy, constructed upon the principles of POETICAL JUSTICE; it is a noble or royal hunt, in which what is sport to the few is death to the many, and in which the spectators halloo and encourage the strong to set upon the weak, and cry havoc in the chase, though they do not share in the spoil.

  William Hazlitt

  Sports, Strong, Justice

  William Hazlitt (1848). “The Miscellaneous Works”

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• It has been the resolution of mankind in all ages of the world. No people, no age, ever threw away the fruits of past wisdom, or the enjoyment of present blessings, for visionary schemes of ideal perfection. It is the knowledge of the past, the actual infliction of the present, that has produced all changes, all innovations, and all improvements - not (as is pretended) the chimerical anticipation of possible advantages, but the intolerable pressure of long-established, notorious, aggravated, and growing abuses.

  William Hazlitt

  Blessing, Past, Long

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1176, Delphi Classics

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• Mankind is ever the same, and nothing lost out of nature, though everything is altered.

  John Dryden

  Lost, Altered

  John Dryden, Keith Walker (2003). “The Major Works”, p.563, Oxford University Press, USA

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• As when the dove returning bore the mark Of earth restored to the long labouring ark; The relics of mankind, secure at rest, Oped every window to receive the guest, And the fair bearer of the message bless'd.

  John Dryden

  Long, Ark, Earth

  John Dryden, Ludwig GANTTER (1854). “The Poetical Works of John Dryden, with Biographical and Critical Notices, Edited by Ludwig Gantter”, p.328

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• The faith in reason insists that the poverty of democracy offers a greater hope for mankind than the prosperity that attaches itself to aristocracy or despotism.

  Bill Vaughan

  Democracy, Aristocracy, Poverty

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• Most new things are not good, and die an early death; but those which push themselves forward and by slow degrees force themselves on the attention of mankind are the unconscious productions of human wisdom, and must have honest consideration, and must not be made the subject of unreasoning prejudice.

  Bill Vaughan

  Innovation, Degrees, Prejudice

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• If I were to give a summary of the tendency of our times, I would say, Quantity. The multitude, the mass spirit, dominates everywhere, destroying quality. Our entire life--production, politics, and education--rests on quantity, on numbers. The worker who once took pride in the thoroughness and quality of his work, has been replaced by brainless, incompetent automatons, who turn out enormous quantities of things, valueless to themselves, and generally injurious to the rest of mankind. Thus quantity, instead of adding to life's comforts and peace, has merely increased man's burden.

  Emma Goldman

  Pride, Men, Numbers

  Emma Goldman (2012). “Anarchism and Other Essays”, p.69, Courier Corporation

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• All creative art is magic , is evocation of the unseen in forms persuasive, enlightening, familiar and surprising, for the edification of mankind , pinned down by the conditions of its existence to the earnest consideration of the most insignificant tides of reality .

  Joseph Conrad

  Art, Creativity, Reality

  Joseph Conrad (2015). “The Complete Novels of Joseph Conrad - All 20 Works in One Premium Edition: Including Unforgettable Titles like Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, Under Western Eyes and Many More (With Author’s Letters, Memoirs and Critical Essays)”, p.4543, e-artnow

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• What makes mankind tragic is not that they are the victims of nature, it is that they are conscious of it.

  Joseph Conrad

  Victim, Conscious, Tragic

  Joseph Conrad (2011). “Joseph Conrad's Letters to R. B. Cunninghame Graham”, p.70, Cambridge University Press

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• For the great mass of mankind the only saving grace that is needed is steady fidelity to what is nearest to hand and heart in the short moment of each human effort.

  Joseph Conrad

  Heart, Hands, Effort

  Joseph Conrad (2014). “Notes on Life and Letters”, p.124, Simon and Schuster

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• Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways! Re-clothe us in our rightful mind, In purer lives thy service find, In deeper reverence praise

  John Greenleaf Whittier

  Father, Dear Lord, Forgiving

  1872 'The Brewing of Soma'.

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• The same technology transforming our lives can solve the greatest problem of the 20th century. A security shield can one day render nuclear weapons obsolete and free mankind from the prison of nuclear terror. America met one historic challenge and went to the Moon. Now America must meet another: to make our strategic defense real for all the citizens of planet Earth.

  Ronald Reagan

  Real, Moon, Technology

  Reagan, Ronald (1988). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1986”, p.129, Best Books on

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• Religion, charity, pure benevolence, and morals, mingled up with superstitious rites and ferocious cruelty, form in their combination institutions the most powerful and the most pernicious that have ever afflicted mankind.

  John Quincy Adams

  Powerful, Charity, Moral

  John Quincy Adams (2017). “John Quincy Adams: Diaries 1821-1848”, p.329, Library of America

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• Religious discord has lost her sting; the cumbrous weapons of theological warfare are antiquated: the field of politics supplies the alchymists of our times with materials of more fatal explosion, and the butchers of mankind no longer travel to another world for instruments of cruelty and destruction.

  John Quincy Adams

  Religious, Warfare, World

  Adams' commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrims, Plymouth, December 22, 1802.

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• The book is a form in which some of the greatest masterpieces that mankind has ever achieved are expressed.

  David Gelernter

  Book, Form, Masterpiece

  Big Think Interview, bigthink.com.

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• Supposing we knew that up there is some alien civilization and it's sending radio signals our way we should not tell the public where that is. We could say that we've picked up a signal, but we should not tell them where for the simple reason that anybody could commandeer a radio telescope, set themselves up as some self appointed spokesperson of mankind and start beaming all sorts of crazy messages back to the aliens.

  Paul Davies

  Crazy, Simple, Self

  "Big Think Interview With Paul Davies". Interview with Austin Allen, bigthink.com. April 15, 2010.

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