It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
Society is the master and man is the servant; and it is entirely according as society proves a good or bad master, whether he turns out a bad or a good servant.
—George Augustus Henry Sala (1828–95) British Journalist, Writer, Artist
The highest manhood resides in disposition, not in mere intellect.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
You first parents of the human race … who ruined yourselves for an apple, what might you not have done for a truffled turkey?
—Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826) French Lawyer, Gourmet, Author
Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if we did not have the idea of nobility in our heads.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.
—Arabic Proverb
Endowed with morality, wisdom and learning, a man usually behaves for others’ welfare as well as for himself.
—Buddhist Teaching
Just as the Brahmins worship the fire, so should you worship him by whom the doctrine, well-preached by the All-Enlightened one, is made known to you.
—Buddhist Teaching
Addiction, obesity, starvation (anorexia nervosa) are political problems, not psychiatric: each condenses and expresses a contest between the individual and some other person or persons in his environment over the control of the individual’s body.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
He is neither absorbed in sensual pleasure nor treat others with contempt. He also is gentle and ready-witted. Such a person is not credulous nor fluctuating.
—Buddhist Teaching
Men are but children of a larger growth; our appetites are as apt to change as theirs, and full as craving, too, and full as vain.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
How little man is; yet, in his own mind, how great! He is lord and master of all things, yet scarce can command anything. He is given a freedom of his will; but wherefore? Was it but to torment and perplex him the more? How little avails this freedom, if the objects he is to act upon be not as much disposed to obey as he is to command!
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority; what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
There are three classes of men; the retrograde, the stationary and the progressive.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
I never met a man I didn’t like.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
Who dares do all that may become a man, and dares no more, he is a man indeed.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Man is both strong and weak, both free and bound, both blind and far-seeing. He stands at the juncture of nature and spirit; and is involved in both freedom and necessity.
—Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American Christian Theologian
Government, religion, property, books, are nothing but the scaffolding to build men. Earth holds up to her master no fruit like the finished man.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman
When man is a brute, he is the most sensual and loathsome of all brutes.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
I require only three things of a man. He must be handsome, ruthless, and stupid.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
The authority of any governing institution must stop at its citizen’s skin.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Activist, Political Advocate
We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origins. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint. And lo! It is our own.
—Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) English Astronomer
Half dust, half deity, alike unfit to sink or soar.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
A wise man who is grateful, faithfully keeps good company and duly gives a helping hand to those who are in trouble is called a virtuous person.
—Buddhist Teaching
The most insignificant people are the most apt to sneer at others. They are safe from reprisals, and have no hope of rising in their own esteem but by lowering their neighbors.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
He is called “One who has attained perfect Tranquillity who is indifferent to sensual pleasure, has no binding rope of passion and has overcome his craving which is the great cause of restlessness.
—Buddhist Teaching
The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.
—Willa Cather (1873–1947) American Novelist, Writer
Man is to man all kinds of beasts; a fawning dog, a roaring lion, a thieving fox, a robbing wolf, a dissembling crocodile, a treacherous decoy, and a rapacious vulture.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet, Essayist
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