“Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?”

—  Confucius

The quote "Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?" is famous quote attributed to Confucius (-551–-479 BC), Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher.

Last update April 18, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Confucius photo
Confucius 269
Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher -551–-479 BC

Related quotes

Chief Seattle photo

“What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man.”

Chief Seattle (1786–1866) Duwamish chief

Misattributed

John Locke photo

“Religion, which should most distinguish us from the beasts, and ought most particularly elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts.”

John Locke book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Book IV, Ch. 18
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

René Descartes photo

“Because reason… is the only thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts, I would prefer to believe that it exists, in its entirety, in each of us…”

René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist
F. Scott Fitzgerald photo

“If you spend your life sparing people’s feelings and feeding their vanity, you get so you can’t distinguish what should be respected in them.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Source: Tender is the Night & The Last Tycoon

Brigitte Bardot photo

“Men are beasts and even beasts don't behave as they do.”

Brigitte Bardot (1934) French model, actor, singer and animal rights activist
Antisthenes photo

“States are doomed when they are unable to distinguish good men from bad.”

Antisthenes (-444–-365 BC) Greek philosopher

§ 5
From Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius

Bem Cavalgar photo

“But it would be enough that, when riding beasts, they behave like men and not like beasts.”

Bem Cavalgar (1391–1438) King of Portugal

Part II

“The emergence of abstract art is a sign that there are still men of feeling in the world. Men who know how to respect and follow their inner feelings, no matter how irrational or absurd they may first appear. From their perspective, it is the social world that tends to appear irrational and absurd.”

Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) American artist

1951; as cited in 'Robert Motherwell, American Painter and Printmaker' https://www.theartstory.org/artist-motherwell-robert-life-and-legacy.htm#writings_and_ideas_header, on 'Artstory'
from his responding at the 1951 MoMA symposium, in which several artists were asked to respond to the prompt 'What Abstract Art Means to Me'
1950s

“violence is an evil thing, but when the guns are all in the hands of the men without respect for human rights, then men are really in trouble.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Daybreakers

“What women want is what men want. They want respect.”

Marilyn vos Savant (1946) US American magazine columnist, author and lecturer

As quoted in Evergreen : A Guide to Writing with Readings (2003), by Susan Fawcett

Related topics