Quotes About Humanity

That aspect of reality of most central concern and importance to human beings is, of course, human beings. And in order to survive and succeed in his fullest capacity as a human being, man must be able to identify his own nature (including his means of knowledge) as well as the nature of the world (or universe) in which he acts.

he thinks there are only three important things in life: 'The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.

The Dead were no better than us – they made mistakes, behaved badly, lost the plot, lost hope, treated each other cruelly – and, as we have seen, they certainly cannot be said to have had better lives. Ultimately, though, whatever they started with, and however badly it sometimes ended, all of our distinguished Dead did something that made a difference – and they did it by making something of themselves.

Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse. MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

I cannot subscribe to this modern idea that we should feel guilty about our role on earth

The number of Homo sapiens sapiens that have ever lived, fought, loved, fussed pottered and finally died over the last 100,000 years is around ninety billion.

everyone alive on the planet today is related both to Confucius (551–479 BC) and to Nefertiti (1370–1330 BC). So

So that, in effect, religion, which should most distinguish us from beasts, and ought most peculiarly to elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts themselves.

But as Camus knew, evil and crises do not make all men rise above themselves. Crises only make them discover themselves. And

All training for war, for killing, ceased. Now men fought to stop the killing.

By 1918 humankind was fully modern, and fully scientific, but too busy fighting itself to aggress against nature. Nature, however, chooses its own moments. It chose this moment to aggress against man, and it did not do so prodding languidly. For the first time, modern humanity, a humanity practicing the modern scientific method, would confront nature in its fullest rage.

But as Camus knew, evil and crises do not make all men rise above themselves. Crises only make them discover themselves. And some discover a less inspiring humanity.

A decade later Brand's Whole Earth Catalog would begin with the premise "We are as gods and might as well get good at it.

Maailmakõiksus siin meie ümber on paljas maailmakõiksus, ei kehvem ega ülevam sellest, mis laotub pealinna hurtsikute ja üürimajade ja templite ja kontorite kohal. Maailm on maailm, elu on elu, kõikjal seesama.

Ah, why should all mankind For one man's fault, be condemned, If guiltless?

So shall the world go on, To good malignant, to bad men benign, Under her own weight groaning.

Statistics are human beings with the tears wiped away.

Education and water should be a human right.

No end to sorrow, caused by the same endless fears. Why can't we learn from all we've been through after two thousand years?

Human beings are more alike than unalike, and what is true anywhere is true everywhere, yet I encourage travel to as many destinations as possible for the sake of education as well as pleasure.

Compassion is a college education. It's a doctorate.

A man should never be judged by his skill, talent, colour, financial or political status, facial beauty and level of education but by the quality of his character.

If we were to lose the ability to be emotional, if we were to lose the ability to be angry, to be outraged, we would be robots. And I refuse that.

The more personal you make something, the more universal it becomes, because essentially we're all made up of the same emotional stuff.