“I think it is grave to kill men, under the pretext that they are mistaken on the interpretation of some point, for we know that even the chosen ones are not exempt from sometimes being wrong.”

—  Michael Servetus

Letter to Oecolampadius, an hebraist of Basel, as quoted by Francisco Javier González Echeverría, and translated by Otis Towns & Miguel González Ancín in the English "Introduction" at Michael Servetus Rresearch http://www.michaelservetusresearch.com/ENGLISH/
Context: Inherent of human condition is the sickness of believing the rest are impostors and heathen, and not ourselves, because nobody recognizes his own mistakes … If one must condemn everyone that misses in a particular point then every mortal would have to be burnt a thousand times. The apostles and Luther himself have been mistaken … If I have taken the word, by any reason, it has been because I think it is grave to kill men, under the pretext that they are mistaken on the interpretation of some point, for we know that even the chosen ones are not exempt from sometimes being wrong.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I think it is grave to kill men, under the pretext that they are mistaken on the interpretation of some point, for we k…" by Michael Servetus?
Michael Servetus photo
Michael Servetus 7
Spanish physician and theologian 1511–1553

Related quotes

Michael Parenti photo

“The real danger we face is not from terrorism but what is being done under the pretext of fighting it.”

Michael Parenti (1933) American academic

1 POLITICS AND ISSUES, The Terrorism Hype, p. 81
Dirty truths (1996), first edition

Alison Croggon photo

“We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.”

Alison Croggon (1962) contemporary Australian poet, playwright and fantasy novelist
George S. Patton photo

“Sometimes I think your life and mine are under the protection of some supreme being or fate, because, after many years of parallel thought, we find ourselves in the positions we now occupy.”

George S. Patton (1885–1945) United States Army general

Letter to Dwight D. Eisenhower (May 1942), as quoted in Eisenhower : A Soldier's Life (2003) by Carlo D'Este, p. 301

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues photo

“The falsest of all philosophies is that which, under the pretext of delivering men from the embarrassment of their passions, counsels idleness and the abandonment and neglect of themselves.”

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist

Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 172.

Kate Winslet photo

“I know when I walk into that classroom in the morning, even if it’s for a split second, at some point I’m being checked out.”

Kate Winslet (1975) English actress and singer

Isn’t She Deneuvely?: Vanity Fair, Dec 2008 http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/12/winslet200812

Lee Kuan Yew photo

“Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.”

Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015) First Prime Minister of Singapore

1988 National Day Rally, when he discussed the leadership transition to Goh Chok Tong in 1990. As quoted in The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: Volume 2, The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
1980s

Terry McMillan photo

“What I do know is sometimes we love the wrong people and sometimes we marry them.”

Terry McMillan book Getting to Happy

Source: Getting to Happy

Howard Dean photo

“"Some would argue, you know, in some of the books of the New Testament, the ending of the Book of Job is different. I think, if I'm not mistaken, there's one book where there's a more optimistic ending, which we believe was tacked on later." --January 3, 2004”

Howard Dean (1948) American political activist

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/101/12.0.html

“We were the "chosen people," chosen to be killed?”

Maurice Sendak (1928–2012) American illustrator and writer of children's books

On traditional Jewish faith, as quoted in "Concerns Beyond Just Where the Wild Things Are" by Patricia Cohen in The New York Times (9 September 2008) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/arts/design/10sendak.html?pagewanted=all

Related topics