Motivational Quotes

Humankind

Of all the ways of defining man, the worst is the one which makes him out to be a rational animal.

- France, Anatole

Best Quotes about Humankind

It is peculiar to mankind to transcend mankind.

Schlegel, Friedrich

To be human is to keep rattling the bars of the cage of existence hollering, What's it for?

Robert, Fulghum

Man, became man through work, who stepped out of the animal kingdom as transformer of the natural into the artificial, who became therefore the magician, man the creator of social reality, will always stay the great magician, will always be Prometheus bringing fire from heaven to earth, will always be Orpheus enthralling nature with his music. Not until humanity itself dies will art die.

Fischer, Ernst

There are two kinds of people in the world -- those you love, and those you don't understand.

Man is a creature made at the end of the week's work when God was tired.

Twain, Mark

Always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.

Aurelius, Marcus

Man... knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfactions instruct him concerning himself, teach him what to seek and what to avoid. For the rest, man is a confused creature; he knows not whence he comes or whither he goes, he knows little of the world, and above all, he knows little of himself.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

I would suggest that barbarism be considered as a permanent and universal human characteristic which becomes more or less pronounced according to the play of circumstances.

Weil, Simone

The human race is a zone of living things that should be defined by tracing its confines.

Calvino, Italo

10.

If we consider the superiority of the human species, the size of its brain, its powers of thinking, language and organization, we can say this: were there the slightest possibility that another rival or superior species might appear, on earth or elsewhere, man would use every means at his disposal to destroy it.

Baudrillard, Jean

11.

The course of human history is determined, not by what happens in the skies, but by what takes place in our hearts.

Kent, Sir Arthur

12.

The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never excuses himself.

Beecher, Henry Ward

13.

The secret of a person's nature lies in their religion and what they really believes about the world and their place in it.

Froude, James A.

14.

The Goddamn human race deserves itself, and as far as I'm concerned it can have it.

Janeway, Elizabeth

15.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

Heinlein, Robert

16.

The history of mankind is the history of ideas.

Mises, Ludwig Von

17.

Man is head, chest and stomach. Each of these animals operates, more often than not, individually. I eat, I feel, I even, although rarely, think. This jungle crawls and teems, is hungry, roars, gets angry, devours itself, and its cacophonic concert does not even stop when you are asleep.

Daumal, Rene

18.

As the archeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end.

Foucault, Michel

19.

Our humanity is a poor thing, except for the divinity that stirs within us.

Bacon, Francis

20.

The human race was always interesting and we know by its past that it will always continue so, monotonously.

Twain, Mark

21.

Cruelty has a Human Heart, And jealousy a Human Face; Terror the Human Form Divine, And secrecy the Human Dress. The Human Dress is forged Iron, The Human Form a Fiery Forge, The Human Face a Furnace seal d, The Human Heart its hungry gorge.

Blake, William

22.

Man is more interesting than men. God made him and not them in his image. Each one is more precious than all.

Gide, Andre

23.

If you think that every bad thing that has been done on the face of the earth has been done by man, you're right -- but so has every good thing.

24.

Let us ask ourselves; What kind of people do we think we are?

Reagan, Ronald

25.

I wish I loved the Human Race; I wish I loved its silly face; I wish I liked the way it walks; I wish I liked the way it talks; And when I'm introduced to one I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!

Raleigh, Sir Walter

26.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

Churchill, Winston

27.

In our civilization, men are afraid that they will not be men enough and women are afraid that they might be considered only women.

Reik, Theodor

28.

Mankind is made great or little by its own will.

Schiller, Johann Friedrich Von

29.

The true grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation, sustained, enlightened and decorated by the intellect of man.

Sumner, Charles

30.

Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.

Machiavelli, Niccolo

31.

Man must realize his own unimportance before he can appreciate his importance.

Baumgardy, R. M.

32.

Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be carved.

Kant, Immanuel

33.

We are all cells in the same body of humanity.

Pilgrim, Peace

34.

Man was nature's mistake --she neglected to finish him -- and she has never ceased paying for her mistake.

Hoffer, Eric

35.

It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.

Holmes, John Andrew

36.

One of the oldest human needs is having someone wonder where you are when you don't come home at night.

Mead, Margaret

37.

Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

King Jr. Martin Luther

38.

Being reproached for giving to an unworthy person, Aristotle said, I did not give it to the man, but to humanity.

Johnson

39.

Human beings are the only animals of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid.

Shaw, George Bernard

40.

But remember please, the Law by which we live, we are not built to comprehend a lie, we can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die.

Kipling, Rudyard

41.

Human beings, for all their pretensions, have a remarkable propensity for lending themselves to classification somewhere within neatly labeled categories. Even the outrageous exceptions may be classified as outrageous exceptions!

Reichmann, W.J.

42.

It's great to be great, but it's greater to be human.

Rogers, Will

43.

Considered logically this concept is not identical with the totality of sense impressions referred to; but it is an arbitrary creation of the human (or animal) mind.

Einstein, Albert

44.

The man who is forever disturbed about the condition of humanity either has no problems of his own or has refused to face them.

Miller, Henry

45.

We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.

Adenauer, Konrad

46.

Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

Kennedy, John F.

47.

Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly.

Mencken, H. L.

48.

Man is God's highest present development. He is the latest thing in God.

Butler, Samuel

49.

There is no doubt: the study of man is just beginning, at the same time that his end is in sight.

Canetti, Elias

50.

Those who live in a world of human beings can only retrace their steps.