#humanity

There occurs the beautiful feeling that only humanity together is the true human being, and that the individual can be cheerful and happy only if he has the courage to feel himself in the Whole. ↗

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

#happiness #humanity #memoir #whole #beauty

When the nettle is young, the leaves make excellent greens; when it grows old it has filaments and fibers like hemp and flax. Cloth made from the nettle is as good as that made from hemp. Chopped up, the nettle is good for poultry; pounded, it is good for horned cattle. The seed of the nettle mixed with the fodder of animals gives a luster to their skin; the root, mixed with salt, produces a beautiful yellow dye. It makes, however, excellent hay, as it can be cut twice in a season. And what does the nettle need? very little soil, no care, no culture; except that the seeds fall as fast as they ripen, and it is difficult to gather them; that is all. If we would take a little pains, the nettle would be useful; we neglect it, and it becomes harmful. Then we kill it. How much men are like the nettle! My friends, remember this, that there are no weeds, and no worthless men, there are only bad farmers. ↗

— Victor Hugo

#les-miserables #nettle #worthiness #beauty

Throughout history, while day-to-day life has changed, humanity hasn't. ↗

— Rachel Harris

#history #humanity #change

I remembered the old doctor, - "It would be interesting for science to watch the mental changes of individuals, on the spot." I felt I was becoming scientifically interesting. ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#humanity #mankind #science #change

The essence of capitalism is to turn nature into commodities and commodities into capital. The live green earth is transformed into dead gold bricks, with luxury items for the few and toxic slag heaps for the many. The glittering mansion overlooks a vast sprawl of shanty towns, wherein a desperate, demoralized humanity is kept in line with drugs, television, and armed force. ↗

— Michael Parenti

#drugs #humanity #miltary #nature #television

If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#sagan #science #courage

Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and perceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and last some crisis shows what we have become. ↗

— Brooke Foss Westcott

#courage #cowardice #development #humanity #strength

What can bombs know of the illuminated fields so golden with heaven in your heart’s sacred lands? ↗

— Aberjhani

#faith #heaven #hope #humanity #massacre

Don't reach for the halo too soon. You have plenty of time to enjoy yourself, even a little maliciously sometimes, before you settle down to being a saint. ↗

— Ellis Peters

#humanity #saintliness #schadenfreude #nature

And just when you’d think [humans] were more malignant than ever Hell could be, they occasionally showed more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of. ↗

— Terry Pratchett

#good #humanity #dreams