#human

Books are only half our job ; the other half is human nature. ↗

— Mary Virginia Provines

#human-nature #job #librarians #library #people

To believe that man’s aggressiveness or territoriality is in the nature of the beast is to mistake some men for all men, contemporary society for all possible societies, and, by a remarkable transformation, to justify what is as what needs must be; social repression becomes a response to, rather than a cause of, human violence. Pessimism about man serves to maintain the status quo. It is a luxury for the affluent, a sop to the guilt of the politically inactive, a comfort to those who continue to enjoy the amenities of privilege. ↗

— Leon Eisenberg

#men

There are many going afar to marvel at the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the long courses of great rivers, the vastness of the ocean, the movements of the stars, yet they leave themselves unnoticed! ↗

— Augustine of Hippo

#marveling #nature #self #wonders #nature

It is straightforward—and never mind, for now, about plagues and famines: if God existed, and if he cared for humankind, he would never have given us religion. ↗

— Martin Amis

#famines #god #humans #plagues #problem-of-evil

Our thoughts are private to protect others not ourselves. People don't have the ability to handle what you really think about them ↗

— Morena Baloyi

#philosophy #nature

Mortals are odd creatures in that sense—flawed yet hopeful. One can study them through millennia and still get nowhere near full understanding of their nature. ↗

— Hayden Thorne

#philosophy #nature

Most distinguishable about the idiot, Hedge noted, was their fear of that which was different. Those who feared difference always made a point of finding difference in others in order to feel more secure in their sameness. ↗

— Sean DeLauder

#nature

All growth toward perfection is but a returning to original existence. ↗

— Wilhelm von Humboldt

#nature

But, ah me! where is the faultless human creature who can persevere in a good resolution, without sometimes failing and falling back? ↗

— Wilkie Collins

#failure #faultlessness #faults #human-nature #steadfastness

Only when man cornered, potential forced to appear. ↗

— Toba Beta

#cornered #forced #human #natural #potential