“Never for a moment do we lay aside our mistrust of the ideals established by society, and of the convictions which are kept by it in circulation. We always know that society is full of folly and will deceive us in the matter of humanity. ... humanity meaning consideration for the existence and the happiness of individual human beings.” KnowsHumansMatterMomentsHumanityIndividualHuman BeingsExistenceIdealsLaysConvictionFollyConsiderationDeceivingMistrustCirculation Author:Albert Schweitzer
“A large portion of human beings live not so much in themselves as in what they desire to be. They create what is called an ideal character, in an ideal form, whose perfections compensate in some degree for the imperfections of their own.” HumansCharacterFormDesireHuman BeingsDegreesIdealsPerfectionImperfectionPortions Book:Success and Its Conditions Source: Success and Its Conditions
“Behavior of such cunning cruelty that only a human being could have thought of or contrived it we call 'inhuman,' revealing thus some pathetic ideal standard for our species that survives all betrayals.” HumansHuman BeingsBehaviorStandardsIdealsSpeciesBetrayalCrueltyCunningRevealingPatheticInhuman Book:A Casual Commentary Source: A Casual Commentary
“In all times and in all places--in Constantinople, northwestern Zambia, Victorian England, Sparta, Arabia, . . . medieval France,Babylonia, . . . Carthage, Mahenjo-Daro, Patagonia, Kyushu, . . . Dresden--the time span between childhood and adulthood, however fleeting or prolonged, has been associated with the acquisition of virtue as it is differently defined in each society. A child may be good and morally obedient, but only in the process of arriving at womanhood or manhood does a human being become capable of virtue--that is, the qualities of mind and body that realize society's ideals.” MindHumansMayChildrenDoeHas BeensBodyProcessRealizingHuman BeingsQualityVirtueChildhoodCapableIdealsEnglandBe GoodAll TimeDefinedFranceAdulthoodWomanhoodManhoodFleetingMind And BodyMedievalAcquisitionObedientArabiaArrivingVictorianDresdenSpartaPatagoniaNorthwesternConstantinopleCarthageZambia Author:Louise J. Kaplan
“The archetype of all humans, their ideal image, is the computer, once it has liberated itself from its creator, man. The computeris the essence of the human being. In the computer, man reaches his completion.” MenHumansHuman BeingsEvolutionComputerIdealsEssenceCreatorLiberatedCompletionArchetype Author:Friedrich Durrenmatt
“Every epoch which seeks renewal first projects its ideal into a human form. In order to comprehend its own essence tangibly, the spirit of the time chooses a human being as its prototype and raising this single individual, often one upon whom it has chanced to come, far beyond his measure, the spirit enthuses itself for its own enthusiasm.” FirstsHumansFormSpiritOrderIndividualChangeHuman BeingsHistoryProjectsIdealsEssenceEnthusiasmRenewalEpochHuman FormPrototype Author:Stefan Zweig
“Witness the American ideal: the Self-Made Man. But there is no such person. If we can stand on our own two feet, it is because others have raised us up. If, as adults, we can lay claim to competence and compassion, it only means that other human beings have been willing and enabled to commit their competence and compassion to us--through infancy, childhood, and adolescence, right up to this very moment.” IfsMenHumansMeanPersonsHas BeensMadeTwoSelfMomentsHuman BeingsCompassionFeetChildhoodWillingAdultsIdealsClaimsLaysRaisedCommitWitnessAdolescenceCompetenceInfancySelf MadeSelf Made Man Author:Urie Bronfenbrenner
“One of the baffling things about life is that the purposes of institutions may be ideal, while their administration, dependent upon the faults and weaknesses of human beings, may be bad.” HumansMayLife IsPurposeHuman BeingsWeaknessIdealsInstitutionsFaultsAdministrationDependent Author:Mary Barnett Gilson
“We, however, want to become those we are--human beings who are new, unique, incomparable, who give themselves laws, who create themselves. To that end we must become the best learners and discoverers of everything that is lawful and necessary in the world: we must become physicists in order to be able to be creators in this sense--while hitherto all valuations and ideals have been based on ignorance of physics or were constructed so as to contradict it. Therefore: long live physics! And even more so that which compels us to turn to physics--our honesty!” WorldWantGivingHumansLongHas BeensEndsAbleLawOrderTurnsHuman BeingsHonestyIgnoranceUniqueIdealsCreatorPhysicsPhysicistLearnersIncomparableValuation Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“I have no ideals. I have no will that the world should be any better or worse or anything... Because I know that for every genius there exists a robbing murderer. There is nothing to do about that. The world is such that if you want to find the intensity within the genuine, you will at the same time find the criminals around the nearest corner. And if you eliminate that genetic quality in the human being, then everyone will become very inactive and very boring, but on the other hand we get rid of criminality.” IfsKnowsWorldWantShouldHumansHandsHuman BeingsQualityGeniusIdealsCornersBoringCriminalsGenuineIntensityMurdererRobbingCriminality Author:Odd Nerdrum