“Man is not the creature and product of Mechanism; but, in a far truer sense, its creator and producer: it is the noble People that makes the noble Government; rather than conversely.”
1820s, Signs of the Times (1829)
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Thomas Carlyle 481
Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian… 1795–1881Related quotes
“Disinterested love for all living creatures, the most noble attribute of man.”
volume I, chapter III: "Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals — continued", page 105 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=118&itemID=F937.1&viewtype=image
The Descent of Man (1871)
“Noble be man,
Helpful and good!
For that alone
Sets hims apart
From every other creature
On earth.”
Das Göttliche (The Divine) (1783)
“Our best theories are not only truer than common sense, they make more sense than common sense…”
The Fabric of Reality (1997)
“A sense of justice is a noble fancy.”
Canto VIII.
Fridthjof's Saga (1820-1825)
Zahlreich sind die Lehrkanzeln, aber selten die weisen und edlen Lehrer. Zahlreich und groß sind die Hörsäle, doch wenig zahlreich die jungen Menschen, die ehrlich nach Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit dürsten. Zahlreich spendet die Natur ihre Dutzendware, aber das Feinere erzeugt sie selten.
1930s, Mein Weltbild (My World-view) (1931)
1850s, Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850), Downing Street (April 1, 1850)
Context: In the lowest broad strata of the population, equally as in the highest and narrowest, are produced men of every kind of genius; man for man, your chance of genius is as good among the millions as among the units;—and class for class, what must it be! From all classes, not from certain hundreds now but from several millions, whatsoever man the gods had gifted with intellect and nobleness, and power to help his country, could be chosen: O Heavens, could,—if not by Tenpound Constituencies and the force of beer, then by a Reforming Premier with eyes in his head, who I think might do it quite infinitely better. Infinitely better. For ignobleness cannot, by the nature of it, choose the noble: no, there needs a seeing man who is himself noble, cognizant by internal experience of the symptoms of nobleness.
“A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.”
Torquato Tasso, Act I, sc. i (1790)
Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.8