SOME VIEWS ON MAN
The statesman and former Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom William Gladstone (1809-1898) said : Man himself is the crowning wonder of
creation; the study of his nature the
noblest study the world affords.
According to the English romantic
poet Lord Byron (17881824) : Man is half dust, half deity, alike unfit to sink
or soar.
The writer and former Member of Parliament of the
United Kingdom Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
had this to say: How little man is; yet, in his own mind how great ! He is lord
and master of all things, yet scarce can command anything. He is given a
freedom of his will, but wherefore? Was it but to torment and perplex him the
more? How little avails this freedom, if the objects he is to act upon be not
so much disposed to obey as he is to command!
The English poet and playwright William Shakespeare
(1564-1616) said in his play Hamlet, Ac
1, Sc.4:
What a piece of work is man ! How
noble in reason! How infinite in faculty ! In form and moving how express and
admirable ! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The
beauty of the world! The paragon of animals!
The last view is by the English poet and
translator Alexander Pope (1688-1744). It is extracted from his poem An Essay
on Man: Epistle II:
Know then thyself, presume
not God to scan;
The proper study of
mankind is man.
Placed 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;
Alike in ignorance, his
reason such,
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 all
things, but a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in
endless error hurled:
The glory, jest, and
riddle of the world!
*********
G.R.Kanwal
11
September 2026
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