SOME
FACTS ABOUT MAN
The two shortest definitions of man
are: An adult male human being, and a
human being of either sex. Its two common synonyms are person, and individual.
To describe all the qualities of
man, one has to refer to all the books and other writings which have been created
so far. They also have to be combined with oral literature of every kind.
To cut short, here are a few quotes
from various sources.
1.Man is
an animal that cooks his victuals. 2. There are but three classes of men, the
retrograde, the stationary, and the progressive. 3. Man is an animal; but he is
an animal plus something else. He is a mythic earth-tree, whose roots are in
the ground, but whose top-most branches may blossom in the heavens. 4. The way
of a superior man is three-fold; virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he
is free from perplexities; bold, he is
free from fear. 5. One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man. 6.
Every man is a volume, if you know how to read him. 5. The test of every
religious, political, or educational system is the man which it forms. 6. They
that deny a God, destroy man’s nobility,
for man is of kin to the beasts of his body, and if he is not of kin to God by
his spirit he is an ignoble creature. ----The English essayist and philosopher
Francis Bacon (1561-1626). 7. Half dust, half deity, alike unfit to sink or
soar. ---The English poet Lord Byron (1788-1824). 8. What a chimera is man! what
a confused chaos! what a subject of contradiction! a professed judge of all
things, and yet a feeble worm of the earth ! the great depository and guardian
of truth, and yet a mere huddle of uncertainty ! the glory and the scandal of
the universe!—French Mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (623-62). 9.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. 10. This quote from An Essay
on Man: Epistle II, written by the English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744):
Know then thyself, presume not God
to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle
state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely
great:
With too much knowledge for the
sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the stoic’s
pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act,
or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a god, or
beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reasoning but
to err;
Whether he thinks too little, or too
much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all
confused;
Still by himself abused, or
disabused;
Created half to rise, and half to
fall;
Great lord of truth, yet a prey to
all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless
error hurled:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the
world!
********
G.R.Kanwal
28 September 2025
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