“You will, by the dignity of your Conduct, afford occasion for Posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to Mankind, had this day been wanting, the World had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining.”
1780s, The Newburgh Address (1783)
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George Washington 186
first President of the United States 1732–1799Related quotes

“If Nature had been comfortable, mankind would never have invented architecture”
The Decay of Lying (1889)
Context: If Nature had been comfortable, mankind would never have invented architecture... In a house, we all feel of the proper proportions. Everything is subordinated to us, fashioned for our use and our pleasure.

"Three Lecture Excerpts from Shunryu Suzuki Roshi" http://www.berkeleyzencenter.org/Lectures/may2000.shtml in Newsletter (May 2000)
Context: You may say you attained some stage in your practice. But that is just a trivial event in your long life. It is like saying the ocean is round, or like a jewel, or palace. For a hungry ghost the ocean is a pool of blood; for a dragon the ocean is a palace; for a fish it is his house; for a human being it is water. There must be various understandings. When the ocean is a palace, it is a palace. You cannot say it is not a palace. For a dragon it is actually a palace. If you laugh at a fish who says it is a palace, Buddha will laugh at you who say it is two o'clock, three o'clock. It is the same thing.

Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought Acceptance Speech (2013)

“If you had only two words to say to the people of the world, what would they be? Attain Peace.”
Miscellaneous, March 31, 2017