#mankind

He had been dazzled. Because of the dazzling brightness, he had had to kill [Seigen]. All who had encountered Seigen had had their hearts stolen by that brightness. That envy had turned to malice. ↗

— Takayuki Yamaguchi

#antipathy #enemies #envy #heart #human-nature

From time to time, I open a newspaper. Things seem to be proceeding at a dizzying rate. We are dancing not on the edge of a volcano, but on the wooden seat of a latrine, and it seems to me more than a touch rotten. Soon society will go plummeting down and drown in nineteen centuries of shit. There’ll be quite a lot of shouting. (1850) ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#humanity #life #mankind #life

..the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man. ↗

— Yann Martel

#mankind #philosophy #truth #life

Ah! how little knowledge does a man acquire in his life. He gathers it up like water, but like water it runs between his fingers, and yet, if his hands be but wet as though with dew, behold a generation of fools call out, 'See, he is a wise man!' Is it not so? ↗

— H. Rider Haggard

#foolishness #futility #humanity #intelligence #knowledge

I love mankind, he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular. ↗

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

#individuals #love #mankind #love

Is this, Miriam wonders, what they call the march of history? And even if she doesn't fully understand, it doesn't mean she can't appreciate the need, the periodic need for some people to resort to gasoline, rags, and matches. Doesn't it always come to this? Isn't history as much about tearing things down as it is about building things up? ↗

— Peter Orner

#history #humanity #mankind #march #need

Loving humanity means as much, and as little, as loving raindrops, or loving the Milky Way. You say that you love humanity? Are you sure you aren’t treating yourself to easy self-congratulation, seeking approval, making certain you’re on the right side? ↗

— Julian Barnes

#humanity #mankind #love

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. ↗

— Dalai Lama XIV

#humanity #love #mankind #art

[T]he concern of man is not his future but his present, not the world but his soul. We must be just, we must strive, we must engage ourselves with the business of the world for our own sake, because through that, and through contemplation in equal measure, our soul is purified and brought closer to the divine. ... Thought and deed conjoined are crucial. ... The attempt must be made; the outcome is irrelevant. Right action is a pale material reflection of the divine, but reflection it is, nonetheless. Define your goal and exert reason to accomplish it by virtuous action; successs or failure is secondary. ↗

— Iain Pears

#deeds #divinity #failure #future #goals

I will write one book that will change entire humankind if only you have enough guts to read my previous ones. ↗

— Santosh Kalwar

#change #guts #humankind #reading #writing