Source: Something More, A Consideration of the Vast, Undeveloped Resources of Life (1920), p. 86
Context: In our own inner selves, we find operating the same trio—ignorance, indifference, and carelessness. We are ignorant of our own latent capacities, of the degree of our likeness to God, of the possibilities of our lives. We are indifferent to the higher values and are content to the lower level of physical appetites and pleasures. Even when we recognize to some extent our possibilities and when we seek after a fashion to realize them, we grow careless, become swamped by the temporary, and lose sight of the eternal.... A lack of appreciation of the intrinsic worth and latent possibilities of every man we meet, indifference to his welfare, and carelessness as to his rights and privileges, prevent us from living on friendly terms with him.
“We find in our children our own selves again, who might be made better than we are.”
Source: City of Heavenly Fire
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Cassandra Clare 2041
American author 1973Related quotes

“We've always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own.”
Presidency (1977–1981), The Crisis of Confidence (1979)
Context: I know, of course, being President, that government actions and legislation can be very important. That's why I've worked hard to put my campaign promises into law — and I have to admit, with just mixed success. But after listening to the American people I have been reminded again that all the legislation in the world can't fix what's wrong with America. So, I want to speak to you first tonight about a subject even more serious than energy or inflation. I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy.
I do not mean our political and civil liberties. They will endure. And I do not refer to the outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched economic power and military might.
The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our Nation.
The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.
The confidence that we have always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July.
It is the idea which founded our Nation and has guided our development as a people. Confidence in the future has supported everything else — public institutions and private enterprise, our own families, and the very Constitution of the United States. Confidence has defined our course and has served as a link between generations. We've always believed in something called progress. We've always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own.
Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. As a people we know our past and we are proud of it. Our progress has been part of the living history of America, even the world. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for freedom, and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. But just as we are losing our confidence in the future, we are also beginning to close the door on our past.

“We are but older children, dear,
Who fret to find our bedtime near.”
“In reality, we are still children. We want to find a playmate for our thoughts and feelings.”
As quoted in The Book Of Friendship: Making Life Better (2001) by Cyndi Haynes, p. 6