quotations about humanity
The one idea which history exhibits as evermore developing itself into greater distinctness, is the idea of humanity; the noble endeavor to throw down all the barriers erected between men by prejudice and one-sided views; and by setting aside the distinctions of religion, country, and color, to treat the whole human race as one brotherhood, having one great object--the free development of our spiritual nature.
A. GEDDES
attributed, Day's Collacon
Humanity is the sum of all men taken together, and each is only so far worthy of esteem as he knows how to appreciate all.
ANNA C. LYNCH
attributed, Day's Collacon
It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.
ERIC HOFFER
The Ordeal of Change
Humanity walks ever on a thin crust over terrific abysses.
ARNOLD BENNETT
The Old Wives' Tale
Are we not unwittingly expressing the unconscious yearning of the fractions to merge once more in the sweet kinship of the unit, of the ninths and the nine-hundred-and-ninety-ninths of humanity to merge their differences in the mighty generalisation Man, of man to merge his finite existence in the mysterious infinite, the undivided, indivisible One, to 'be made one,' as theology phrases it, 'with God'? How the complex life of our time longs to return to its first happy state of simplicity, we feel on every hand.
RICHARD LE GALLIENNE
"Fractional Humanity", Prose Fancies
Humanity, like armies in the field, advances at the speed of the slowest.
GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ
Love in the Time of Cholera
The history of man is essentially zoological; it becomes human late in the day, and then only in the beautiful souls, the souls alive to justice, goodness, enthusiasm, and devotion. The angel shows itself rarely and with difficulty through the highly-organized brute.
HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL
Journal Intime
Humanity, once put off, is put off for worse, as well as for better; if we take not good heed to live angelically afterward, we must count on becoming devilish.
JULIUS CHARLES HARE
Guesses at Truth
We see humanity, not as it originally came from the hands of its Creator, but such as the events of thousands of years have made it; we mistake habit for nature, and lose the power of distinguishing between the natural and the artificial; it is desirable to recover and to exercise this power; to analyze men, society; to ascertain the original condition of the one, and trace the history of the other; to ascertain the rights and duties of one, and the origin, objects, and legitimate powers of the other.
NATHANIEL GREENE
The People's Own Book
We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own.
CHINUA ACHEBE
The Education of a British-Protected Child
The most identifying trait of humanity is our ability to be inhumane to one another.
DEAN KOONTZ
Odd Thomas
It wants not merely microscopic but telescopic power to know humanity in its essence; a power to discern its grandeur as well as its littleness, the infinity of its relations as well as the meanness of its pursuits. The human soul is a great deep. We must take into view the nebulous possibilities that are brooding and waiting there, and notice the buds and films of light that reveal themselves even in the darkest spaces.
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a person who truly loves--these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon them would destroy man himself.
POPE BENEDICT XVI
Encyclical Letter, Spe Salvi, November 30, 2007
Humanity toward a subdued foe is as noble as the valor displayed in encountering him.
G. D. PRENTICE
attributed, Day's Collacon
I wanted to rub the human race in its own vomit, and force it to look in the mirror.
J. G. BALLARD
Crash
Humanity may be compared to an immense temple ruined, but now rebuilding, the numerous compartments of which represent the several nations of the earth. True, the different portions of the edifice present great anomalies; but yet the foundation is the same.
MME. D'AUBIGNE
attributed, Day's Collacon
Man isn't a noble savage, he's an ignoble savage. He is irrational, brutal, weak, silly, unable to be objective about anything where his own interests are involved--that about sums it up. I'm interested in the brutal and violent nature of man because it's a true picture of him. And any attempt to create social institutions on a false view of the nature of man is probably doomed to failure.
STANLEY KUBRICK
New York Times Film Review, January 30, 1972
The tapestry of the universe is vast and complex, with infinite patterns. While threads of tragedy may form the primary weave, humanity with its undaunted optimism still manages to embroider small designs of happiness and love.
BRIAN HERBERT & KEVIN J. ANDERSON
The Butlerian Jihad
Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity.
ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN
letter, Oct. 1967
True humanity consists not in a squeamish ear; it consists not in starting or shrinking at tales of misery, but in a disposition of heart to relieve it. True humanity appertains rather to the mind than to the nerves. and prompts men to use real and active endeavors to execute the actions which it suggests.
C. J. FOX
attributed, Day's Collacon