“It was a hopeless thing, he thought, this obsession of his to present the people of the Earth as good and reasonable. For in many ways they were neither good nor reasonable; perhaps because they had not as yet entirely grown up.”
Source: Way Station (1963), Ch. 11
Context: It was a hopeless thing, he thought, this obsession of his to present the people of the Earth as good and reasonable. For in many ways they were neither good nor reasonable; perhaps because they had not as yet entirely grown up. They were smart and quick and at times compassionate and even understanding, but they failed lamentably in many other ways.
But if they had the chance, Enoch told himself, if they ever got a break, if they only could be told what was out in space, then they'd get a grip upon themselves and they would measure up and then, in the course of time, would be admitted into the great cofraternity of the people of the stars.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Clifford D. Simak 137
American writer, journalist 1904–1988Related quotes

“The reason fat men are good natured is they can neither fight nor run.”

Rome, or Reason? A Reply to Cardinal Manning. Part I. The North American Review (1888)
Context: Among the “some two hundred and fifty-eight” Vicars of Christ there were probably some good men. This would have happened even if the intention had been to get all bad men, for the reason that man reaches perfection neither in good nor in evil; but if they were selected by Christ himself, if they were selected by a church with a divine origin and under divine guidance, then there is no way to account for the selection of a bad one. If one hypocrite was duly elected pope—one murderer, one strangler, one starver—this demonstrates that all the popes were selected by men, and by men only, and that the claim of divine guidance is born of zeal and uttered without knowledge.

“There may be no good reason for things to be the way they are.”
Source: The Consolations of Philosophy (2000), Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 23.
"A. Alvarez: The Savage God" (1972), p. 69
The Good Word & Other Words (1978)

Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726)