Quotes About Humanity

In a world that's smarter than it used to be and, in some ways, smarter than it ought to be, stupidity has a way of making us seem all the more human.

I mean there are many, many people in all sorts of different countries who don't have a great life, who are subject to injustice. Are we obliged to take all of them who come here? I think the answer is 'Not necessarily.'

As we have sought through the centuries to define ourselves as human beings and as nations through the prisms of history and literature, no small part of that effort has drawn us to the subject of war. We might even say that the humanities began with war and from war, and have remained entwined with it ever since.

There's no way to approach anything in an objective way. We're completely subjective; our view of the world is completely controlled by who we are as human beings, as men or women, by our age, our history, our profession, by the state of the world.

To do art, one thing should always remember - subjects of people in misery have deep meanings.

There are some subjects that can only be tackled in fiction.

That's what happens in a good horror movie: there are always metaphors of greater subjects like humanity and empathy and compassion. It's not about the action and scary moments: You really care about these characters because they're mirrors of our own reflections.

That's my ambition: that you look at the pictures and realize what complex, fascinating, interesting people every single one of my subjects is.

I am often drawn to what appear at first to be 'dark' or 'difficult' subjects, but which, upon further examination, are always and only reflections of the ways human beings attempt, however clumsily, badly, or well, to connect with others.

As a documentary filmmaker, I try to be sensitive to my subjects.

People treat serious subjects so seriously, which is so obvious a way of dealing with them. I'm always thinking that the best way of dealing with them is to show people as human beings.

I love the challenge of taking these really complicated subjects and trying to humanise them.

Many times, I have been shocked and frightened by human beings. I have experienced delight and revulsion. I have sometimes wanted to forget what I heard, to return to a time when I lived in ignorance. More than once, however, I have seen the sublime in people and wanted to cry.

If you subscribe to any moral code that says you should care for humanity, obviously black people will fit into that category.

I think I enjoy playing human beings no matter the substance of their character.

You don't look at each other on the subway.

I've taken clowns into the war in Bosnia, the refugee camps of Kosovo, and none of those are any more important than clowning in a subway or an elevator or just walking down the street.

I still want to be the guy who can get on the subway and check out the freak on the subway.

I have met people on the subway who have told me the most profound stories, and I am convinced we all have something to teach each other if we just slow down long enough to hear the message.

Any notable moments spent on a subway usually do nothing more than expose human awfulness at its most pronounced.

It's fundamental to succeed in coming into contact with your subject. Whether it's a big Hollywood star or a passer-by in the street, it makes no difference.

I try, and I think I succeed, in making my readers feel pity for my psychopaths, because I do.

I tell myself I write because I want to say something true and original about the nature of evil. That is very ambitious - to say something about the human condition that hasn't been written before. Probably I will never succeed but that is what I strive to do.

If I had an ear 2 confide in I would cry among my treasured friends But who do u know that stops that long to help another carry on The world moves fast and it would rather pass u by than 2 stop and c what makes u cry