"As man advances in civilisation, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all the members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races. If, indeed, such men are separated from him by great differences in appearance or habits, experience unfortunately shews us how long it is before we look at them as our fellow-creatures. Sympathy beyond the confines of man, that is humanity to the lower animals, seems to be one of the latest moral acquisitions. It is apparently unfelt by savages, except towards their pets. How little the old Romans knew of it is shewn by their abhorrent gladiatorial exhibitions. The very idea of humanity, as far as I could observe, was new to most of the Gauchos of the Pampas. This virtue, one of the noblest with which man is endowed, seems to arise incidentally from our sympathies becoming more tender and more widely diffused, until they are extended to all sentient beings. As soon as this virtue is honoured and practised by some few men, it spreads through instruction and example to the young, and eventually through public opinion."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
1st ed. (1871) pp. 100-101
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Descent_of_Man%2C_and_Selection_in_Relation_to_Sex
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex
34 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex →
Related Quotes
"As dogs, cats, horses, and probably all the higher animals, even birds, as is stated on good authority, have vivid dr…"
"It has often and confidently been asserted, that man's origin can never be known: but ignorance more frequently beget…"
"Man differs from woman in size, bodily strength, hairyness, &c., as well as in mind, in the same manner as do the two…"
"Man bears in his bodily structure clear traces of his descent from some lower form; but it may be urged that, as man …"
"My object in this chapter is solely to shew that there is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammal…"
"The lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery. Happiness is never better exhib…"
"The love of a dog for his master is notorious; in the agony of death he has been known to caress his master, and ever…"
"Most of the more complex emotions are common to the higher animals and ourselves. Every one has seen how jealous a do…"
"As Horne Tooke, one of the founders of the noble science of philology, observes, language is an art, like brewing or …"
"All animals feel Wonder, and many exhibit Curiosity. They sometimes suffer from this latter quality, as when the hunt…"