Quotes about men

„I cannot think we are useless or Usen would not have created us. He created all tribes of men and certainly had a righteous purpose in creating each.“

—  Geronimo leader of the Bedonkohe Apache 1829 - 1909

„The love of justice is simply in the majority of men the fear of suffering injustice.“

—  François de La Rochefoucauld, book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

L'amour de la justice n'est en la plupart des hommes que la crainte de souffrir l'injustice.
Maxim 78.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

„Some Vietnam veterans have told me what they did over there when they were animals. They have been giving testimony about it to the public, to juries, to judges. Some of the juries cry, and so do some of the judges.
One Ex-Marine has a face like a Puerto Rican angel and a body count of 390. That means he and his unit killed 390 people in a variety of hideous ways, and the angel got to go count the dead bodies for the record.
And now he and a lot of his buddies are trying to make up for what we made them do. We paid the taxes that bought the war that hired the men and dropped the fire that burned the huts and killed the people who then were the bodies that Scott counted. It's a rotten thing to brainwash someone into doing the dirty part of killing while we stay at home. It's a rotten thing to pretend the war is coming to an end when it's only taken to the air. And in 1972 if you don't fight against a rotten thing you become a part of it.
What I'm asking you to do is take some risks. Stop paying war taxes, refuse the armed forces, organize against the air war, support the strikes and boycotts of farmers, workers and poor people, analyze the flag salute, give up the nation state, share your money, refuse to hate, be willing to work … in short, sisters and brothers, arm up with love and come from the shadows.“

—  Joan Baez American singer 1941

Text notes on Come From The Shadows (1972)

„Friedan: Men had to be supermen: stoic, responsible meal tickets. Dominance is a burden. Most men who are honest will admit that.“

—  Betty Friedan American activist 1921 - 2006

The Playboy Interview (1992)

„Men weren’t really the enemy — they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.“

—  Betty Friedan American activist 1921 - 2006

As quoted by The Christian Science Monitor (1 April 1974) This has sometimes appeared paraphrased: "Man is not the enemy here, but the fellow victim."

„I am not surprised that men are not thankful to me; but I wonder that they are not grateful to God for the good which he has made me the instrument of conveying to my fellow-creatures.“

—  Edward Jenner English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination 1749 - 1823

The Life of Edward Jenner: With Illustrations of His Doctrines, and Selections from His Correspondence https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=7K9iwCjoUgkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false, Vol. 2 (1838), by John Baron, p. 295

„Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad; but the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue.“

—  David Hume Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian 1711 - 1776

Essay on the Immortality of the Soul
Context: Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad; but the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue. -- Were one to go round the world with an intention of giving a good supper to the righteous, and a sound drubbing to the wicked, he would frequently be embarrassed in his choice, and would find that the merits and the demerits of most men and women scarcely amount to the value of either.

„What men and women need is encouragement. Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened…. Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his REAL self that can dare and do and win out!… The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town…. People radiate what is in their minds and in their hearts. If a man feels kindly and obliging, his neighbors will feel that way, too, before long. But if he scolds and scowls and criticizes — his neighbors will return scowl for scowl, and add interest!… When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good — you will get that…. Tell your son Tom you KNOW he'll be glad to fill that woodbox — then watch him start, alert and interested!“

—  Eleanor H. Porter American novelist 1868 - 1920

Works, Pollyanna (1913)

„All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment, convince me that in what I have done, I have not prevented a single murder.“

—  Albert Pierrepoint English executioner 1905 - 1992

Executioner: Pierrepoint. Harrap 1974. p. 211.

„Ninety percent of [contemporary philosophers] see their principal task as that of beating religion out of men's heads. … We are far from being able to provide scientific basis for the theological world view.“

—  Kurt Gödel logician, mathematician, and philosopher of mathematics 1906 - 1978

As quoted in Logical Dilemmas : The Life and Work of Kurt Gödel (1997) by John W. Dawson Jr.

„I would like to shake hands with the white men, but I am afraid they do not want peace with us.“

—  Little Raven (Arapaho leader) Southern Arapaho chief 1810 - 1889

As quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970), p. 77

„Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.“

—  Sun Tzu ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty -543 - -495 BC

Original: (zh_Hant) 視卒如愛子，故可與之俱死。
Source: The Art of War, Chapter X · Terrain

„All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.“

—  Sun Tzu ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty -543 - -495 BC

人皆知我所以勝之形，而莫知吾所以制勝之形。
Original: (zh_Hant) 人皆知我所以勝之形，而莫知我所以制勝之形。
Source: The Art of War, Chapter VI · Weaknesses and Strengths

„If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married.“

—  Katharine Hepburn film, stage, and television actress 1907 - 2003

„The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.“

—  John Maynard Keynes, book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

Source: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936), Ch. 24 "Concluding Notes" p. 383-384
Context: The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval; for in the field of economic and political philosophy there are not many who are influenced by new theories after they are twenty-five or thirty years of age, so that the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.

„The desert knows me well, the night, the mounted men
The battle and the sword, the paper and the pen“

—  Al-Mutanabbi Arabic poet from the Abbasid era 915 - 965

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O04oUcNXmdI
Original: (ar) إذا رَأيْتَ نُيُوبَ اللّيْثِ بارِزَةً فَلا تَظُنّنّ أنّ اللّيْثَ يَبْتَسِمُ<br/>وَمُهْجَةٍ مُهْجَتي من هَمّ صَاحِبها أدرَكْتُهَا بجَوَادٍ ظَهْرُه حَرَمُ<br/>رِجلاهُ في الرّكضِ رِجلٌ وَاليدانِ يَدٌ وَفِعْلُهُ مَا تُريدُ الكَفُّ وَالقَدَمُ<br/>وَمُرْهَفٍ سرْتُ بينَ الجَحْفَلَينِ بهِ حتى ضرَبْتُ وَمَوْجُ المَوْتِ يَلْتَطِمُ<br/>الخَيْلُ وَاللّيْلُ وَالبَيْداءُ تَعرِفُني وَالسّيفُ وَالرّمحُ والقرْطاسُ وَالقَلَمُ
Context: When the lion bares his teeth, do not
fancy that the lion shows to you a smile.
I have slain the man that sought my heart's blood many a time,
Riding a noble mare whose back none else may climb,
Whose hind and fore-legs seem in galloping as one,
Nor hand nor foot requireth she to urge her on.
And O the days when I have swung my fine-edged glaive
Amidst a sea of death where wave was dashed on wave!
The desert knows me well, the night, the mounted men
The battle and the sword, the paper and the pen

„You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-door neighbor… Public opinion is a permeating influence, and it exacts obedience to itself; it requires us to think other men's thoughts, to speak other men's words, to follow other men's habits.“

—  Walter Bagehot British journalist, businessman, and essayist 1826 - 1877

Sir Robert Peel
Biographical Studies (1907)

„Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible for humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part is ignored?“

—  Мустафа Кемаль Ататюрк Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey 1881 - 1938

As quoted in "Atatürk" in Images of a Divided World (29 October 2006) http://jmilton6000.wordpress.com/2006/10/29/ataturk/
Variant translation: Humankind consists of two sexes, woman and man. Is it possible that a mass is improved by the improvement of only one part and the other ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains and the other half can soar into skies?
Context: Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible for humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part is ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains that the other half can soar into skies?

„Young men, hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when he was young.“

—  Augustus founder of Julio-Claudian dynasty and first emperor of the Roman Empire -63 - 14 BC