“It seems incredible that a man with such a message and such nobility of character should have been killed as an enemy of society. But is it surprising?”
Source: Jesus or Christianity: A Study in Contrasts (1929), p. 23
Context: It seems incredible that a man with such a message and such nobility of character should have been killed as an enemy of society. But is it surprising?... In a memorable passage Jesus refers to the fact that it is customary for one generation to stone the prophets and for another to erect monuments in their honor.
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Kirby Page 248
American clergyman 1890–1957Related quotes
“A man with no enemies is a man with no character.”
Quoted in Paul Newman: A Life in Pictures, ed. Yann-Brice Dherbier and Pierre-Henri Verlhac (2006), p. 120
As quoted in Words of Wisdom : From the Greatest Minds of All Time (2004) by Mick Farren
Variant: If you don't have enemies, you don't have character.

“Strength of body is nobility in beasts of burden, strength of character is nobility in men.”
Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

“The responsibility of writers,” p. 168
On Science, Necessity, and the Love of God (1968)
Context: Such words as spontaneity, sincerity, gratuitousness, richness, enrichment — words which imply an almost total indifference to contrasts of value — have come more often from their [the surrealists’] pens than words which contain a reference to good and evil. Moreover, this latter class of words has become degraded, especially those which refer to the good, as Valéry remarked some years ago. Words like virtue, nobility, honor, honesty, generosity, have become almost impossible to use or else they have acquired bastard meanings; language is no longer equipped for legitimately praising a man’s character.

Resist Not Evil (1904)

As quoted in Howl (1993-07-22).
Interviews (1989-1994), Print

Source: Leviathan Wakes (2011), Chapter 28 (p. 281)

“I should like to have been killed in the war.”
Answer to the question "How would you like to be remembered?" by Anne Brown in a radio interview on 13 April 1986; from Simon Heffer, Like the Roman. The Life of Enoch Powell (Phoenix, 1999), p. 901
1980s