
“The real question today is not when human life begins, but, What is the value of human life?”
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation (1983)
“The real question today is not when human life begins, but, What is the value of human life?”
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation (1983)
“By the way, dancers are not human beings. How can you be human and do what they do?”
Alesha Dixon cited in Dixon tipped for Strictly success http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7156420.stm at bbc.co.uk, 22 December, 2007: Referring bookmakers favourite to win BBC One's ballroom show Strictly Come Dancing.
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”
Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est aetas hominis, nisi ea memoria rerum veterum cum superiorum aetate contexitur? ([http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/orator.shtml#120 120])
Variant translation: To be ignorant of the past is to be forever a child.
Chapter XXXIV, section 120
Orator Ad M. Brutum (46 BC)
Variant: Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age?
“Do you know what humanity is, what the word "human" means? The word human”
Love is not a feeling ~ The Interview (1995)
Context: Do you know what humanity is, what the word "human" means? The word human where I come from - which is the enlightened state - means suffering. So when you say you're a human being, you're saying you're a suffering being. And I say you have to get rid of your suffering and then be being. Enlightenment is the state of being which I am, this moment and every moment. So I'm not suffering. But humanity loves to suffer. People love to suffer because they love to get excited with their feelings. All you've got to do is get rid of your feelings, which are always negative. Why not get rid of the whole lot of it, now? That means you don't know feelings and then you don't know negativity, and then you'd be in love, and then you would love everybody by not loving anybody in particular as a feeling. That's the state of enlightenment.
Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927-1939