The human race is a zone of living things that should be defined by tracing its confines.
—Italo Calvino (1923–85) Italian Novelist, Essayist, Journalist
There is a great deal of human nature in people.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I hate mankind, for I think of myself as one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
So, in the infinitely nobler battle in which you are engaged against error and wrong, if ever repulsed or stricken down, may you always be solaced and cheered by the exulting cry of triumph over some abuse in Church or State, some vice or folly in society, some false opinion or cruelty or guilt which you have overcome! And I beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these my parting words: Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
But remember please, the Law by which we live, we are not built to comprehend a lie, we can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Children’s Books Writer, Short story, Novelist, Poet, Journalist
Humanity cherishes its swaddling clothes; but it shall not grow up unless it can free itself from them. Turning down his mother’s breast does not make the weaned child ungrateful. … Rise up naked, valiant; make the sheaths crack; push aside the stakes; to grow straight you need no more than the thrust of your sap and the call of the sun.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.
—Buddhist Teaching
Close by the Rights of Man, at the least set beside them, are the Rights of the Spirit.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
It is almost impossible to smile on the outside without feeling better on the inside.
—Unknown
In the old times men carried out their rights for themselves as they lived, but nowadays every baby seems born with a social manifesto in its mouth much bigger than itself.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Nothing is more repugnant to me than brotherly feelings grounded in the common baseness people see in one another.
—Milan Kundera (b.1929) Czech Novelist
Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf.
—Orson Scott Card (b.1951) American Author
The paradox of our time in history is that:
we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints;
we spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy it less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;
wee have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, but more problems;
more medicine, but less wellness.
We have multiplied our possessions,
but reduces our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, hate too often.
We learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We’ve added years to life, but not life to years.
W’ve been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space;
we’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul;
we’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice;
we have higher incomes, but lower morals;
we’ve become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of tall men, and short character;
steep profits, and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace
but domestic warfare;
more leisure, but less fun;
more kinds of food, but less nutrition.
These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce;
of fancier houses, but broken homes.
It is a time when there is much in the show window
and nothing in the stockroom;
a time when technology can bring this letter to you,
and a time when you can choose
either to make a difference—
or just hit delete.
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
—Thurgood Marshall (1908–93) American Jurist
Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse with two focal points of which facts are one and ideas the other.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
I’m quite sure that … I have no race prejudices, and I think I have no color prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed, I know it. I can stand any society. All that I care to know is that a man is a human being—that is enough for me he can’t be any worse.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The demand for equal rights in every vocation of life is just and fair; but, after all, the most vital right is the right to love and be loved.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
Man is not on the earth solely for his own happiness. He is there to realize great things for humanity.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family, and each one of us is responsible for the misdeeds of all the others. I cannot detach myself from the wickedest soul.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Every one stamps his own value on himself.—The price we challenge for ourselves is given us.—Man is made great or little by his own will.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.
—Alexander Hamilton (c.1757–1804) American Federalist Politician, Statesman
Be tolerant of the human race. Your whole family belongs to it—and some of your spouse’s family does too.
—Unknown
Those who live in a world of human beings can only retrace their steps.
—Nathalie Sarraute (1900–99) French Novelist, Essayist
Man was nature’s mistake—she neglected to finish him—and she has never ceased paying for her mistake.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature do not alter its course.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
We’re all of us guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress.
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
If we think we have ours and don’t owe any time or money or effort to help those left behind, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the fraying social fabric that threatens all Americans.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer
Always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.
—Noam Chomsky (b.1928) American Linguist, Social Critic
We say nothing essential about the cathedral when we speak of its stones. We say nothing essential about Man when we seek to define him by the qualities of men.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Every man has a sane spot somewhere.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.
—e. e. cummings (1894–1962) American Poet, Writer, Painter
Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
From now on it is only through a conscious choice and through a deliberate policy that humanity can survive.
—Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) Polish Catholic Religious Leader
Man is a machine and in the whole universe there is but a single substance, matter, variously modified.
—Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–51) French Physician, Philosopher
We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Humans are amphibians—half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.
—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish-born British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
Man is a two-legged animal without feathers.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
The true proof of the inherent nobleness of our common nature is in the sympathy it betrays with what is noble wherever crowds are collected. Never believe the world is base; if it were so, no society could hold together for a day.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
God must love the common man, he made so many of them.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
As the archeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end.
—Michel Foucault (1926–84) French Philosopher, Critic, Historian
Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.
—Teresa of Avila (1515–82) Spanish Carmelite Nun, Mystic
The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
No author ever drew a character consistent to human nature, but he was forced to ascribe to it many inconsistencies.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician