Source: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844), p. 32-33
Context: There is nothing at all singular or special in the astronomical situation of the earth. It takes its place third in a series of planets, which series is only one of numberless other systems forming one group. It is strikingly-if I may use such an expression-a member of a democracy. Hence, we cannot suppose that there is any peculiarity about it which does not probably attach to multitudes of other bodies—in fact, to all that are analogous to it in respect of cosmical arrangements.
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)
Letter to Mitchell Kennerley about the book Woodrow Wilson and the World's Peace, October 1, 1917 https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr6atcdK37EC&pg=PA123 https://books.google.com/books?id=2BL2AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2383 <br class="br">1910s
“The situation on, on earth is complicated.”
Adam Roberts book Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea
“You mean politics?” Dakkar spat the word, with immeasurable contempt.
Source: Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea (2014), Chapter 24, “Dakkar” (p. 228)
Charles Fort (1874–1932) American writer
Source: The Book of The Damned (1919), Ch. 1, part 4 at resologist.net
“Our situation on this earth seems strange.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
1930s, My Credo (1932)
Context: Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own. I am often worried at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them.
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) Indian guru
Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1999. Canto 5, Chapter 16, verse 4, purport. Vedabase http://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/5/16/4 <br class="br">Quotes from Books: Loving God, Quotes from Books: Regression of Science
“[S]he had a singular spaciousness of mind in which nothing little or mean could live.”
Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956) British writer
12. "The Ordinary Hairpins"
Trent Intervenes (1938)
XVIII. 130–131 (tr. Robert Fagles). Cf. Iliad, XVII. 446–447.
Samuel Butler's translation:
: Man is the vainest of all creatures that have their being upon earth.
Robert Fitzgerald's translation:
: Of mortal creatures, all that breathe and move,
earth bears none frailer than mankind.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)
Variant: Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man.
Source: The Iliad
