What I believe (by E.M. Forster)
Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.
Henry David Thoreau • Walden (AmazonClassics Edition)
He admits that they may serve to make men live in peace with one another, and to prepare them gently for the hour of death. He regrets the faith which he has lost; and as he is deprived of a treasure which he has learned to estimate at its full value, he scruples to take it from those who still possess it.
Alexis de Tocqueville • Democracy in America, Volume I and II (Optimized for Kindle)
But there are some people, nevertheless—and I am one of them—who think that the most practical and important thing about a man is still his view of the universe.
G. K. Chesterton • The G. K. Chesterton Collection [50 Books]
There are people who take it upon themselves to decide for others what their relationship is to God and to the world. And there are people, the vast majority, who give away this right to others and blindly believe what others tell them. Both groups are equally misguided. Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy • A Calendar of Wisdom: New Translation (Alma Classics)
“Man is a rational animal — so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favor of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it.”
— Bertrand Russell
— Bertrand Russell
It does not matter whether they believe in you. What matters is that you believe in them.