Themes

"Plato had defined Man as an animal, biped and featherless, and was applauded. Diogenes plucked a fowl and brought it into the lecture-room with the words, "Behold Plato's man!""

"Some men sleep with loose hands that by day are fists holding fear"

"Man may be no very magnificent animal; but he was made for something better than to illustrate a theory."

"O Lord of the world! The world is Thine, Thou canst do with it as seemeth good in Thine eyes. But the man Thou art now creating will be few of days and full of trouble and sin. If it be not Thy purpose to have forbearance and patience with him, it were better not to call him into being."

"Man is a ribald—Man’s a rake, Man is Nature’s sole mistake!"

"So man, the moth, is not afraid, it seems, To span Omnipotence, and measure might That knows no measure, by the scanty rule And standard of his own, that is to-day, And is not ere to-morrow's sun go down."

"Conservatives have a problem with women. For that matter, all men do."

"A man is not really a true man until he owns his own home, and they that own their homes are made more honorable and honest and pure, true and economical and careful, by owning the home."

"Men do not stumble over mountains, but over molehills"

"The male standard for hot dog excellence is color and difficulty, not gracefulness, smoothness, continuity. The way hot dog contests are judged now, The women are competing in a Mr. America contests with male judges."

"Manhood begins when we have in any way made truce with Necessity; begins even when we have surrendered to Necessity, as the most part only do; but begins joyfully and hopefully only when we have reconciled ourselves to Necessity; and thus, in reality, triumphed over it, and felt that in Necessity we are free."

"No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men."

"The precious porcelain of human clay."

"Man! Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear."

"See the sun set in the hand of the man."

"Make no more giants, God! But elevate the race at once!"

"Earthly wealth does not belong to us, as those who have never thought about this erroneously believe. Otherwise, it always and forever would remain in our possession. But it changes hands constantly, thereby proving that it is given only for us to watch over temporarily. ... Wealth belongs to God; man is only the temporary caretaker. A faithful caretaker will follow exactly the wishes of the one who has entrusted the wealth to him. And we, temporarily ruling over the wealth given to us, must rule over it according to the will of God. Let us not use it as a means of indulging our desires and passions, as a resource for eternal perdition. Let us use it for the good of mankind, which lives in need and suffering. ... Do not forget that you are the image and likeness of God, that you are obliged to present this image in purity and holiness to God himself. Woe to you if God will not recognize His image, will not find in it any similarity with Himself! He will utter the dreadful words: "I do not know you.""

"Perhaps man is the creature who, once struck down, defines himself by his ability to rise."

"MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada."

"Behave like a practical man of the world but do not be worldly."

"MALE, n. A member of the unconsidered, or negligible sex. The male of the human race is commonly known (to the female) as Mere Man. The genus has two varieties: good providers and bad providers."

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our likeness, and let there be a creature not only the product of earth, but also gifted with heavenly, spiritual elements, which will bestow on him reason, intellect, and understanding." Truth then appeared, falling before God's throne, and in all humility exclaimed: "Deign, O God, to refrain from calling into being a creature who is beset with the vice of lying, who will tread truth under his feet." Peace came forth to support this petition. "Wherefore, O lord, shall this creature appear on earth, a creature so full of strife and contention, to disturb the peace and harmony of thy creation? He will carry the flame of quarrel and ill-will in his trail; he will bring about war and destruction in his eagerness for gain and conquest." Whilst they were pleading against the creation of man, there was heard, arising from another part of the heavens, the soft voice of Charity: "Sovereign of the universe." the voice exclaimed, in all its mildness, "vouchsafe thou to create a being in thy, likeness, for it will be a noble creature striving to imitate thy attributes by its actions. I see man now in Spirit, that being with God's breath in his nostrils, seeking to perform his great mission, to do his noble work. I see him now in spirit, approaching the humble hut, seeking out those who are distressed and wretched to comfort them, drying the tears of the afflicted and despondent, raising up them that are bowed down in spirit, reaching his helping hand to those who are in need of help, speaking peace to the heart of the widow, and giving shelter to the fatherless. Such a creature can not fail to be a glory to his Maker." The Creator approved of the pleadings of Charity, called man into being, and cast Truth down to the earth to flourish there; as the Psalmist says (Ps. lxxxv. 12): "Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven to abide with man"; and he dignified Truth by making her his own seal."

"Thou wilt scarce be a man before thy mother."

"Le fer cède à certains degrés de battage ou de pression réitérée ; ses impénétrables molécules, purifiées par l'homme et rendues homogènes, se désagrègent ; et, sans être en fusion, le métal n'a plus la même vertu de résistance. Les maréchaux, les serruriers, les taillandiers, tous les ouvriers qui travaillent constamment ce métal en expriment alors l'état par un mot de leur techonologie : "Le fer est roui !" disent-ils en s'appropriant cette expression exclusivement consacrée au chanvre, dont la désorganisation s'obtient par le rouissage. Eh bien, l'âme humaine, ou, si vous voulez la triple énergie du corps, du cœur et de l'esprit se trouve dans une situation analogue à celle du fer, par suite de certains chocs répétés. Il en est alors des hommes comme du chanvre et du fer : ils sont rouis."

"Let each man think himself an act of God. His mind a thought, his life a breath of God."

"1. Man is in essence divine. This has ever been enunciated throughout the ages, but remains as yet a beautiful theory or belief, and not a proven scientific fact, nor is it universally held. 2. Man is in fact a fragment of the Universal Mind, or world soul, and as a fragment is thus partaker of the instincts and quality of that soul, as it manifests through the human family . . . It must lead to the education of the public as to the nature of man, and the development of the powers latent within him - powers which will set him free from his present limitations, and which will produce in the human family a collective repudiation of the present conditions. When men everywhere recognize themselves and each other, as divine self-conscious units, functioning primarily in the causal body but utilizing the three lower vehicles only as a means of contact with the three lower planes, we will have government, politics, economics and the social order readjusted upon sound, sane and divine lines. 3. Man in his lower nature, and in his three vehicles, is an aggregate of lesser lives, dependent on him for their group nature, for their type of activity, and collective response, and who through the energy of activity of the solar Lord - will themselves later be raised, and developed to the human stage. When these facts are understood, then and only then will we have a right and just comprehension of the nature of man. p. 809/11."

"Non è un si bello in tante altre persone, Natura il fece, e poi roppa la stampa."

"La prima volta che vado a letto con un uomo succede quasi sempre che non si fa niente. Si preoccupano, si agitano, credono di dover fare i fenomeni. Pensano "Oddio, lo sto facendo con l'Arcuri", e non si conclude. Ormai lo so, sono rassegnata. Per questo concedo sempre una seconda chance."

"There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has the right to blame us."

"Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?"

"Rings put upon his fingers, A most delicious banquet by his bed, And brave attendants near him when he wakes, Would not the beggar then forget himself?"

"Where could I find enough leather to cover the whole earth? But by the leather of one pair of sandals the earth will be covered."

"Luxury is an enticing pleasure, a bastard mirth, which hath honey in her mouth, gall in her heart, and a sting in her tail."

"On his weary couch Fat Luxury, sick of the night's debauch, Lay groaning, fretful at the obtrusive beam That through his lattice peeped derisively."

"The long anticipated luxury, once enjoyed, becomes a necessity that must needs be gratified."

"Luxury and dissipation, soft and gentle as their approaches are, and silently as they throw their silken chains about the heart, enslave it more than the most active and turbulent vices."

"Fell luxury! more perilous to youth Than storms or quicksands, poverty or chains."

"Then there is that glorious Epicurean paradox, uttered by my friend, the Historian in one of his flashing moments: "Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessaries.""

"One of history's few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations. Once people get used to a certain luxury, they take it for granted. Then they begin to count on it. Finally, they reach a point where they can't live without it."

"Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt: It's like sending them ruffles, when wanting a shirt."

"O Luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree."

"Blest hour! It was a luxury—to be!"

"Sofas 'twas half a sin to sit upon, So costly were they; carpets, every stitch Of workmanship so rare, they make you wish You could glide o'er them like a golden fish."

"To treat a poor wretch with a bottle of Burgundy, and fill his snuff-box, is like giving a pair of laced ruffles to a man that has never a shirt on his back."

"The superfluity of the rich is necessary to the poor. If you hold on to superfluous items, then, your are keeping what belongs to someone else."

"Coarse are his meals, the fortune of the chase, Amidst the running stream he slakes his thirst, Toils all the day, and, at th' approach of night On the first friendly bank he throws him down, Or rests his head upon a rock 'till morn: Then rises fresh, pursues his wonted game, And if the following day he chance to find A new repast, or an untasted spring, Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury."

"But ne'er to a seductive lay let faith be given; Nor deem that "light that leads astray" is light from Heaven."

"The light that never was on sea or land, The consecration, and the poet's dream."

"A remnant of uneasy light."

"Where God and Nature met in light."