“…reasonable men, they went because we were there. There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn’t be fair if they tried.”

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "…reasonable men, they went because we were there. There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they c…" by Harper Lee?
Harper Lee photo
Harper Lee 142
American author 1926–2016

Related quotes

George Washington Plunkitt photo

“When we have produced men of reason, we shall have a world of reason, and the Hitlers will disappear. As long as we produce men of force we shall have a world of force, and the Hitlers, whoever wins the wars, will carry the day.”

Milton Mayer (1908–1986) American journalist

I Think I'll Sit This One Out (1939)
Context: It is a sensible military tactic to recognize the enemy before you shoot. The common enemy is the animality in man, and not the men here and there who are behaving like animals at the moment. Neither science nor prayer nor force will save us. What will save us is the reason that enables men, in ancient Israel and modern America, to choose between guns and butter, and to choose well. When we have produced men of reason, we shall have a world of reason, and the Hitlers will disappear. As long as we produce men of force we shall have a world of force, and the Hitlers, whoever wins the wars, will carry the day.
Society may make many demands on me, as long as it keeps me out of the cave. It may take my property. It may take my life. But when it puts me back into the cave I must say, politely but firmly, to hell with society. My ancestors were cannibals without benefit of parliaments.

George William Curtis photo

“We thought we could and we tried it. The breath of our national nostrils was equal rights. The jewel of our soul was fair play for all men. But, selecting one class of our population, we denied to them every natural right and sought to extinguish their very humanity. Resistance was hopeless, but they protested silently by still wearing the form of man, of which we could not deprive them. Planting both feet upon the prostrate and helpless, men as much as we, we politely invited the world to contemplate the prosperity of the United States”

George William Curtis (1824–1892) American writer

1860s, The Good Fight (1865)
Context: We thought we could and we tried it. The breath of our national nostrils was equal rights. The jewel of our soul was fair play for all men. But, selecting one class of our population, we denied to them every natural right and sought to extinguish their very humanity. Resistance was hopeless, but they protested silently by still wearing the form of man, of which we could not deprive them. Planting both feet upon the prostrate and helpless, men as much as we, we politely invited the world to contemplate the prosperity of the United States. Forests falling, factories humming, gold glittering in every man's pocket! Above all, would the world please to take notice that it was a land of liberty, and that we offered a happy home to the oppressed of every clime? 'A wise and sensible man was John Rutledge of South Carolina', smiled the complacent country, smoothing its full pockets, 'morals have nothing to do with politics'. 'Good', mutters the ostrich, as he buries his head in the sand, 'now nobody sees me'.

“We were marching down the street, and we were at the head of the troops. We went on marching, and the troops went off to the left.”

Geoffrey Burbidge (1925–2010) British astronomer

Of his leadership of supporters of the Steady State theory of cosmology Wall Street Journal obituary 30 January 2010 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703389004575033382092023468.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
We are all made from stardust

A.E. Housman photo

“Here dead we lie because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But young men think it is, and we were young.”

A.E. Housman (1859–1936) English classical scholar and poet

No. 36.
More Poems http://www.kalliope.org/vaerktoc.pl?vid=housman/1936 (1936)

Stephen Vincent Benét photo
Warren Farrell photo
John Adams photo
Ben Jonson photo

“There's reason good, that you good laws should make:
Men's manners ne'er were viler, for your sake.”

Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English writer

XXIV, To The Parliament, lines 1-2
The Works of Ben Jonson, First Folio (1616), Epigrams

Related topics