Wednesday, 4 December 2024

WHAT IS MAN? SOME FAMOUS QUOTES

 

            WHAT IS MAN? SOME FAMOUS QUOTES

There are too many quotes on man. All are meaningful. Literally man is an adult male human. The plural of human is humans.

Humans are also animals but with a difference. They can think and are motivated not only by instincts but also by intellect and logic. Animals are motivated  only by instincts. Moreover, unlike humans, they lack moral sense.

Given below are a few famous quotes about man/men.

(i).Man is an animal; but he is an animal plus something else. He is a mystic earth-tree, whose roots are in the ground, but whose top-most branches may blossom in the heavens. ---Henry George, American political economist (1839-1897).

(ii). Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal. ----Alexander Hamilton, American statesman, died 12 July 1802.

(iii). Every man is a volume, if you know how to read him. ---Channing, W.E. American clergy (1780-1842).

(iv). An honest man is the noblest work of God.---Alexander Pope, English poet (1688-1744).  

(v). The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man which it forms. ---Amiel, Henry Frederic,  Swiss philosopher (1821-81).

(vi). One cannot be a hero, but one can always be a man. ---Goethe, American poet and philosopher (1749-1832).

(vii). Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice. ---Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384 BC-322BC).

(viii). There are but three classes of men, the retrograde, the stationary, and the progressive. ---John Caspar Lavater, Swiss theologian (1741-1801).

(ix). The way of a superior man is threefold: virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear.---Confucius, Chinese philosopher (551BCE-479 BCE).

 Finally, this is what The English poet-dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616) said in his play Hamlet through Prince Hamlet:

            “What a piece of work is man ! How noble in reason ! How infinite in faculties ! In form and moving, how express and admirable ! In action, how like an angel ! In apprehension, how like a god !

                                                            ********

G.R.Kanwal

4th December 2024

 

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