“The measure of civilized behavior is compassion.”
Source: Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town
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Paul Theroux 32
American travel writer and novelist 1941Related quotes
Source: Letters and Papers from Prison (1967; 1997), The view from below, p. 17
Context: There remains an experience of incomparable value. We have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated — in short, from the perspective of those who suffer. Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behavior. Christians are called to compassion and to action.
“Compassion isn’t a sign of weakness, but a mark of civilization.”
" Where is the Love? http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/28/opinion/kristof-where-is-the-love.html?src=recg", New York Times, 27 November 2013
Source: Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (6th ed., 2006), Chapter 3, Balance of Power and World War I, p. 61.
“For all the compasses in the world, there's only one direction, and time is its only measure.”
Source: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
“We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior.”
Romulus the Great, act I (1956)
“Equality is the measure of all things, and bad behavior is less bad if everyone indulges in it.”
The Economist Sees No Evil http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon_2_20_02td.html (February 20, 2002).
City Journal (1998 - 2008)
2000
Context: The New York Times is cheering the decision of Mount Holyoke College to stop requiring that students submit their SAT scores for admission, ending what the Times calls "the tyranny of the big test." While conceding that the SAT measures "mental dexterity," the editorial complains that the test does not capture qualities such as "motivation" or what the student "learned in high school."
The SAT also doesn't measure compassion, speed or good looks. It does, however, measure something more than the ability to suck up to your high school teachers and guidance counselors.