Humanity
George Bernard Shaw on History
“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” George Bernard Shaw Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
H. L. Mencken on Humanity
“The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.” H. L. Mencken US editor (1880 – 1956)
William Hazlitt on Humanity
“Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.” William Hazlitt English essayist (1778 – 1830)
L. Frank Baum on Imagination
“Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity.” L. Frank Baum
George Orwell on Society
“Society has always seemed to demand a little more from human beings than it will get in practice.” George Orwell
William S. Burroughs on Politics and Science Fiction
“After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say ‘I want to see the manager.’ “ William S. Burroughs US author (1914 – 1997)
King Solomon on Value
“Good people are remembered long after they are gone, but the wicked are soon forgotten.” Solomon a king of Israel and a thinker
John F. Kennedy on War
“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” John F. Kennedy
Oscar Levant on Humility
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left.” Oscar Levant
Scott Adams Cynical Quote
“You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public.” Scott Adams, The Dilbert Future US cartoonist (1957 – )
Stephen Hawking on Science
“If human life were long enough to find the ultimate theory, everything would have been solved by previous generations. Nothing would be left to be discovered.” Stephen Hawking, Interview with The Guardian (UK) September 27, 2005 English cosmologist and physicist (1942 – )
Millard Fuller on Community
“For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people’s love and concern for each other.” Millard Fuller
Stephen Hawking on Computers
“I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image.” Stephen Hawking
Frank Zappa on the Mind
“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.” Frank Zappa
George C. Marshall on Peace
“If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known.” George C. Marshall US general (1880 – 1959)
Stephen Jay Gould on Science
“The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos.” Stephen Jay Gould US author, naturalist, paleontologist, & popularizer of science (1941 – 2002)
William Feather on Society
“One of the indictments of civilizations is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person.” William Feather (1908 – 1976)
Mark Twain on Humanity
“The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.” Mark Twain, What Is Man? (1906) US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 – 1910)
John F. Kennedy on Power
“The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.” John F. Kennedy
Edward Gibbon on History
“History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.” Edward Gibbon English historian of Rome (1737 – 1794)
Frank Borman on Humanity and Progress
“Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.” Frank Borman
H. G. Wells on History and Education
“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” H. G. Wells, Outline of History (1920) English author, historian, & utopian (1866 – 1946)
Aldous Huxley on Humanity
“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” Aldous Huxley English critic & novelist (1894 – 1963)
Douglas Adams on Experience
“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” Douglas Adams
Voltaire on History and Crime
“Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.” Voltaire French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 – 1778)
Blaise Pascal on Angels
“Man is neither angel nor beast, and unhappily whoever wants to act the angel, acts the beast.” Blaise Pascal
Henry David Thoreau Cynical Quote
“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” Henry David Thoreau US Transcendentalist author (1817 – 1862)
Martin Luther King Jr. on Science
“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963 US black civil rights leader & clergyman (1929 – 1968)
Bill Watterson on Intelligent Life
“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.” Bill Watterson, cartoonist, Calvin and Hobbes US cartoonist (1958 – )
Carl Becker on Humanity
“The significance of man is that he is insignificant and is aware of it.” Carl Becker
Joseph Conrad on Evil
“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911 English (Polish-born) novelist (1857 – 1924)
Bertrand Russell on Happiness
“If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.” Bertrand Russell British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 – 1970)
Neil Armstrong on Mystery
“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.” Neil Armstrong (1930 – 2012) Apollo 11 astronaut, first man on the Moon.
Robert E. Lee on War
“It is well that war is so terrible – otherwise we would grow too fond of it.” Robert E. Lee, Statement at the Battle of Fredericksburg (13th December 1862) US-Confederate general (1807 – 1870)
R. Buckminster Fuller on Technology
“Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.” R. Buckminster Fuller US architect & engineer (1895 – 1983)
Benjamin Franklin on Politics
“All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.” Benjamin Franklin US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 – 1790)
Jose Marti on Suffering
“Man has to suffer. When he has no real afflictions, he invents some.” Jose Marti
T. S. Eliot on Humanity
“Humankind cannot stand very much reality.” T. S. Eliot British (US-born) critic, dramatist & poet (1888 – 1965)
Bertrand Russell on Injustice
“In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.” Bertrand Russell British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 – 1970)
Arthur Schopenhauer Cynical Quote
“Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.” Arthur Schopenhauer German philosopher (1788 – 1860)
Louise Beal on Society
“Love thy neighbour as yourself, but choose your neighbourhood.” Louise Beal
Cicero on Humanity and Community
“We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race.” Cicero
Albert Einstein on Humanity
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” Albert Einstein
Neil Armstrong’s Famous Quote
“This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong (1930 – 2012) Apollo 11 astronaut, first man on the Moon.
Mark Twain on Desire
“A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs.” Mark Twain, Following the Equator US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 – 1910)
Samuel Johnson on Knowledge
“Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.” Samuel Johnson, quoted in Boswell’s Life of Johnson English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 – 1784)
Nancy Astor on Change
“The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything – or nothing.” Nancy Astor British politician (1879 – 1964)
Robertson Davies on Society
“There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.” Robertson Davies
Albert Einstein on Wisdom at Solving Problems
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Albert Einstein
Don Marquis on Progress
“The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.” Don Marquis US humorist (1878 – 1937)
Frank Lloyd Wright on Technology
“If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.” Frank Lloyd Wright
Marjorie Stoneman Douglas on the Future
“The future lies in the strength with which people can set their powers of creation against their impulses for destruction. Perhaps this is the unending frontier.” Marjorie Stoneman Douglas
Helen Keller on Knowledge
“Knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge – broad, deep knowledge – is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man’s progress is to feel the great heartthrobs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward striving, one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life.” Helen Keller
Henry David Thoreau on Flying
“Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!” Henry David Thoreau US Transcendentalist author (1817 – 1862)
Benjamin Franklin on Freedom and Security
“He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.” Benjamin Franklin
Albert Einstein on Technology & Humanity
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” Albert Einstein
John Kenneth Galbraith on Politics
“Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.” John Kenneth Galbraith US (Canadian-born) administrator & economist (1908 – 2006)
Abraham Lincoln’s Cynical Quote
“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.” Abraham Lincoln 16th president of US (1809 – 1865)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery on Language
“Language is the source of misunderstandings.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery French writer (1900 – 1944)