Source: Jesus Before Christianity: The Gospel of Liberation (1976), p. 72.
Context: Jesus wanted to liberate everyone from the law — from all laws. But this could not be achieved by abolishing or changing the law. He had to dethrone the law. He had to ensure that the law be man’s servant and not his master (Mark 2:27-28). Man must therefore take responsibility for his servant, the law, and use it to serve the needs of mankind.
“The horseman serves the horse,
The neatherd serves the neat,
The merchant serves the purse,
The eater serves his meat;
'T is the day of the chattel,
Web to weave, and corn to grind;
Things are in the saddle,
And ride mankind.”
“Ode,” Complete Works (1883), vol. 9, p. 73
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Ralph Waldo Emerson 727
American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882Related quotes

“Things are in the saddle,
And ride mankind.”
Ode, inscribed to W. H. Channing
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?”
Letter to John Thaxter (29 September 1778)

“If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?”
Abigail Adams, his wife, in a letter to John Thaxter (1778-09-29).
Misattributed

“All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil.”
Demogorgon, Act II, sc. iv, l. 110
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)
Pelsaert, quoted from Lal, K. S. (1992). The legacy of Muslim rule in India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.
Jahangir’s India

“Perhaps the things that break our hearts are the very things that serve to open them.”
Source: The Greatness Guide Book 2: 101 More Insights to Get You to World Class

2010s, 2016, Statement regarding the Khan family (1 August 2016)