“Although humans and baboons may fight among themselves, dominate others, and keep harems, only humans have the ability to give pious excuses for what they do.”
King of the Mountain: The Nature of Political Leadership (2002)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Related quotes
Steve Stewart-Williams (1971)
Source: The Ape that Thought It Was a Peacock: Does Evolutionary Psychology Exaggerate Human Sex Differences? (2013), p. 150
“There are no explanations for human evil. Only excuses.”
Dean Koontz book Intensity
Source: Intensity
“Human entirety can only be what it is when giving up the addiction to others’ ends.”
Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French intellectual and literary figure
Source: On Nietzsche (1945), p. xxxiv, note
Ottobah Cugoano (1757–1791) African abolitionist in England
Source: Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery (1787), p. 4
Akira Kurosawa book Something Like an Autobiography
Something Like an Autobiography (1981)
Context: Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.
“When the pack is out hunting, the dogs do not fight among themselves.”
Alain (1868–1951) French philosopher
One Must Vow
Alain On Happiness (1928)