Quotes about humanity
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“How much of human life is lost in waiting.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

“It can be… difficult to to learn how the world truly is, to see it in its true shape and form… most human beings never do. Most could not bear it.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

World, Learning

“… it is human nature, I suppose, to be futile and ridiculous.”

Rafael Sabatini book Scaramouche

Source: Scaramouche

Nature

“The human spirit must prevail over technology.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

“Color is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality.”

James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time

Source: The Fire Next Time

Color, Reality, Personality

“Do you expect sincerity in man when hypocrisy is the very keynote of human nature? We are nurtured on it; we are schooled in it, we live by it; and we rarely realize it.”

Rafael Sabatini book Scaramouche

Book 3, Chapter 16
Source: Scaramouche

School, Nature, Sincerity

“Freaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated – in the main, abominably – because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us, our most profound terrors and desires.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

Source: The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985

“People give pain, are callous and insensitive, empty and cruel… but place heals the hurt, soothes the outrage, fills the terrible vacuum that these human beings make.”

Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American author

Pain, People, Hurt

“A guy can do far far worse than surrounding himself with people who restore his faith in humanity.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

People, Faith, Guy

“Gentlemen of the human race, I say to hell with the lot of you.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Hell

“We ordinary people might lack your great speed or your X-Ray vision, Superman, but never underestimate the power of the human mind. We carry the most dangerous weapon on Earth inside these thick skulls of ours.”

Mark Millar book Superman: Red Son

Source: Superman: Red Son

People, Speed

“Being a decent human being will require effort and energy…”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

Effort

“The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.”

Michael Ondaatje book In the Skin of a Lion

Source: In the Skin of a Lion

Time

“The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human can alter his life by altering his attitude.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

Life, Wise, Attitude, Life

“Hope was an instinct only the reasoning human mind could kill. An animal never knew despair.”

Graham Greene book The Power and the Glory

Source: The Power and the Glory

Hope, Animals, Despair

“The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

Universe, Perfection

“Literature as a whole is not an aggregate of exhibits with red and blue ribbons attached to them, like a cat-show, but the range of articulate human imagination as it extends from the height of imaginative heaven to the depth of imaginative hell.”

Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist

Source: The Educated Imagination

Imagination, Cats, Literature, Hell

“We must all make do with the rags of love we find flapping on the scarecrow of humanity.”

Angela Carter book Nights at the Circus

Source: Nights at the Circus

Love

“To the real artist in humanity, what are called bad manners are often the most picturesque and significant of all.”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist

“My God, it can recognise another human being when it's hit over the head with one.”

Laurie R. King book The Beekeeper's Apprentice

Source: The Beekeeper's Apprentice

God

“Two things are infinite: the universe and the human stupidity.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

As discussed in this entry from The Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/04/universe-einstein/#more-173, the earliest published attribution of a similar quote to Einstein seems to have been in Gestalt therapist Frederick S. Perls' 1969 book Gestalt Theory Verbatim, where he wrote on p. 33: "As Albert Einstein once said to me: 'Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity.' But what is much more widespread than the actual stupidity is the playing stupid, turning off your ear, not listening, not seeing." Perls also offered another variant in his 1972 book In and Out the Garbage Pail, where he mentioned a meeting with Einstein and on p. 52 http://books.google.com/books?id=HuxFAAAAYAAJ&q=human+stupidity#search_anchor quoted him saying: "Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe." However, Perls had given yet another variant of this quote in an earlier book, Ego, Hunger, and Aggression: a Revision of Freud’s Theory and Method (originally published 1942, although the Quote Investigator only checked that the quote appeared in the 1947 edition), where he attributed it not to Einstein but to a "great astronomer", writing: "As modern times promote hasty eating to a large extent, it is not surprising to learn that a great astronomer said: 'Two things are infinite, as far as we know – the universe and human stupidity.' To-day we know that this statement is not quite correct. Einstein has proved that the universe is limited." So, the later attributions in 1969 and 1972 may have been a case of faulty memory, or of intentionally trying to increase the authority of the quote by attributing it to Einstein. The quote itself may be a variant of a similar quote attributed even earlier to the philosopher Ernest Renan, found for example in The Public: Volume 18 from 1915, which says on p. 1126 http://books.google.com/books?id=cTPmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1126#v=onepage&q&f=false: "He quotes the saying of Renan: it isn't the stars that give him an idea of infinity; it is man's stupidity." (Other examples of similar attributions to Renan can be found on this Google Books search http://www.google.com/search?q=renan+infinity+stupidity&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1.) Renan was French so this is presumably intended as a translation, but different sources give different versions of the supposed original French quote, such as "La bêtise humaine est la seule chose qui donne une idée de l'infini" (found for example in Réflexions sur la vie, 1895-1898 by Remy de Gourmont from 1903, p. 103 http://books.google.com/books?id=RtrtAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=false, along with several other early sources as seen in this search http://www.google.com/search?q=%22humaine+est+la+seule+chose+qui%22+renan&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1) and "Ce n'est pas l'immensité de la voûte étoilée qui peut donner le plus complétement l'idée de l'infini, mais bien la bêtise humaine!" (found in Broad views, Volume 2 from 1904, p. 465 http://books.google.com/books?id=9NEaAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA465#v=onepage&q&f=false). Since these variants have not been found in Renan's own writings, they may represent false attributions as well. They may also be variants of an even older saying; for example, the 1880 book Des vers by Guy de Maupassant includes on p. 9 http://books.google.com/books?id=cQUvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP21#v=onepage&q&f=false a quote from a letter (dated February 19, 1880) by Gustave Flaubert where Flaubert writes "Cependant, qui sait? La terre a des limites, mais la bêtise humaine est infinie!" which translates to "But who knows? The earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is infinite!" Similarly the 1887 book Melanges by Jules-Paul Tardivel includes on p. 273 http://books.google.com/books?id=n9cOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA273#v=onepage&q&f=false a piece said to have been written in 1880 in which he writes "Aujourd'hui je sais qu'il n'y a pas de limites à la bêtise humaine, qu'elle est infinie" which translates to "today I know that there is no limit to human stupidity, it is infinite." <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Earliest version located is in Technocracy digest: Issues 287–314 from 1988, p. 76 http://books.google.com/books?id=L7LnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22sure+about+the+former%22#search_anchor. Translated to German as: "Zwei Dinge sind unendlich: das Universum und die menschliche Dummheit. Aber beim Universum bin ich mir nicht ganz sicher." (Earliest version located is Arndt-Michael Meyer, Die Macht der Kürze, Books on Demand GmbH, 2004, p. 14 http://books.google.gr/books?id=12DW-RBKTW8C&pg=PA14&dq=%22Zwei+Dinge+sind+unendlich:+das+Universum+und+die+menschliche+%22+arnd&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gquJUsrYBomM7AapmYGgCQ&ved=0CC8Q6wEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Zwei%20Dinge%20sind%20unendlich%3A%20das%20Universum%20und%20die%20menschliche%20%22%20arnd&f=false.) <br class="br">Variant: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Stupidity, Universe, Funny, Attitude

“We all make mistakes at some time in our lives, some more than others. It is only when the cost is counted in human lives that people really take notice.”

Jasper Fforde book The Eyre Affair

Source: The Eyre Affair

People, Time

“Evolution brings human beings. Human beings, through a long and painful process, bring humanity.”

Dan Simmons book Hyperion

Source: Endymion (1996), Chapter 44 (p. 449)
Source: Hyperion
Context: “Humanity has evolved—as far as it has evolved,” continued the old priest, “with no thanks to its predecessors or itself. Evolution brings human beings. Human beings, through a long and painful process, bring humanity.”
“Empathy,” Aenea said softly.

Pain

“Hope is the deep orientation of the human soul that can be held at the darkest times.”

Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic

Hope, Soul, Time

“Even as the nineteenth century had to come to grips with the notion of human descent from apes, we must now come to terms with the fact that those apes were stoned apes.”

Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist

Source: Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge

“I know there's a proverb which that says 'To err is human,' but a human error is nothing to what a computer can do if it tries.”

Agatha Christie book Hallowe'en Party

Source: Hallowe'en Party

Error

“Welcome to the human race. Nobody controls his own life, Ender.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Life

“Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.”

Peter F. Drucker book The Essential Drucker

Source: The Essential Drucker

People

“You can't change laws without first changing human nature.'
-Nurse Greta

You can't change human nature without first changing the law.'
-Nurse Yvonne”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

Law, Nature, Change

“the poems to come are for you and for me and are not for mostpeople… you and i are human beings; mostpeople are snobs.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Source: 100 Selected Poems

“To err is human, to purr is feline.”

Robert Byrne (1928–2013) American chess player and writer

Source: The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said

“I swear, I have no understanding of other human beings.”

E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…

Source: The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver

Understanding

“Camille leaned forward. When she did, the neckline of her black silk blouse gaped open. If Simon had still been human, he would have blushed. "Will you let me see it?"
Simon could actually feel his eyes pop out. "See”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Feeling

“and now, all these years later, it seem to him that the most horrible fact of human existence was that broken hearts mended”

Stephen King book Wizard and Glass

Source: Wizard and Glass

Heart

“I envy people who have the capacity to sit with another human being and find them endlessly interesting, I would rather watch TV. Of course this becomes eventually known to the other person.”

Carrie Fisher book Postcards from the Edge

Source: Postcards from the Edge

People, Envy, Personality

“Inhumanity, n. One of the signal and characteristic qualities of humanity.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

Source: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

“Intelligence and education that hasn't been tempered by human affection isn't worth a damn.”

Daniel Keyes (1927–2014) American author

Education, Intelligence

“I wish sometimes you had a few bad motives, you might understand a little more about human beings.”

Graham Greene book The Quiet American

Source: The Quiet American

Motivation, Understanding

“Art’s something you choose to make … it’s a bringing together of … of everything around you into something that makes you more human, more khepri, whatever. More of a person.”

China Miéville book Perdido Street Station

Source: Perdido Street Station (2000), p. 82

Art, Personality

“We humans look rather different from a tree. Without a doubt we perceive the world differently than a tree does. But down deep, at the molecular heart of life, the trees and we are essentially identical.”

Carl Sagan book Cosmos

Source: Cosmos

Life, World, Tree, Heart

“The main thing to remember is that making love is at onces the silliest and the most sacred act humans can perform.”

Patricia Briggs (1965) American writer

Source: Dragon Blood

Love, Making love

“It's your fiction that interests me. Your studies of the interplay of human motives and emotion.”

Isaac Asimov book I, Robot

Source: I, Robot

Motivation, Study

“Rant would tell people: 'You're a different human being to everybody you meet.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Rant

Source: Rant

People

“Unlike a fountain that circulates the same water in an enclosed, perpetually recycling system, a human being circulates thoughts in an unlimited reservoir of self.

Don't limit yourself to being a mere fountain when you contain an ocean.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Water

“Watching a peaceful death of a human being reminds us of a falling star; one of a million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever.”

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) American psychiatrist

On Death and Dying (1969)

Death, Peace, Star, Light

“Freedom is not our gift to the world it is God's gift to humanity.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

God, World, Freedom

“It is an absurdity to believe that the Deity has human passions, and one of the lowest of human passions, a restless appetite for applause”

David Hume (1711–1776) Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian

Passion

“There are things in this universe that we cannot control, and then there are the things we can…. Let fate, coincidence, and accident conspire; human beings must act on reason.”

David Guterson book Snow Falling on Cedars

Source: Snow Falling on Cedars

Fate, Universe

“Of all that I have possessed in my life, my memories are the only things remaining to me. Indeed, I believe that memories are the only real treasure any human can hope to hold always.”

Gary Jennings book Aztec

Source: Aztec

Life, Hope, Memory

“Humanism is the only - I would go so far as saying the final- resistance we have against the inhuman practices and injustices that disfigure human history.”

Edward Said (1935–2003) Professor of English and literature

History

“The wind makes you ache is some place that is deeper than your bones. It may be that it touches something old in the human soul, a chord of race memory that says Migrate or die - migrate or die.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Soul, Memory

“Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

“… we are custodians of deep and ancient thresholds. In the human face you see that potential and the miracle of undying possibility.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

“All we can know is that we know nothing. And that's the height of human wisdom.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Variant: The only thing that we know is that we know nothing — and that is the highest flight of human wisdom.
Source: War and Peace (1865–1867; 1869), Ch. I

Wisdom

“Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you.”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

“There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Source: Selected Poems

Books, Soul

“But there are no absolutes in human misery and things can always get worse”

Cormac McCarthy book Suttree

Source: Suttree

“Stories--individual stories, family stories, national stories--are what stitch together the disparate elements of human existence into a coherent whole. We are story animals.”

Yann Martel book Beatrice and Virgil

Source: Beatrice and Virgil

Family, Animals

“A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”

Robert B. Cialdini (1945) American social psychologist

Source: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

People, Behavior, Success

“Humanity I love you because when you're hard up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Love, Intelligence, Drink

“Gambling is not a vice, it is an expression of our humanness. We gamble. Some do it at the gaming table, some do not. You play, you win, you play, you lose, you play.”

Jeanette Winterson book The Passion

Source: The Passion (1987), p.73

Game

“Art—the meaning of the pattern of our common actions in reality. The cloth-of-gold that hides behind the sackcloth of reality, forced out by the pain of human memory.”

Lawrence Durrell book Justine

Source: Justine

Pain, Art, Reality, Memory

“We are not Human Beings experiencing spiritual lives, we are spiritual beings experiencing human lives.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

“All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.”

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament

“We looked at the sky. So many stars, it seemed like a celebration, a grand, illicit party the galaxy was holding after the humans had been put to bed.”

E. Lockhart book We Were Liars

Source: We Were Liars

Star

“I know this will come as a shock to you, Mr. Goldwyn, but in all history, which has held billions and billions of human beings, not a single one ever had a happy ending.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Source: The Portable Dorothy Parker

Happiness, History

“And now that its ruby eyes are set into the gold, you cannot see their tear-shape, so they seem to be laughing rather than crying. It is a constant reminder to me of the human ability to create something beautiful even when things are at the darkest.”

Cressida Cowell (1966) British writer

Source: How to Twist a Dragon's Tale

Beauty, Tear, Cry

“Perhaps because I'll never be one, humans are interesting to me.”

Jeff Lindsay book Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Source: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

“That wasn't any act of God. That was an act of pure human fuckery.”

Stephen King book The Stand

Source: The Stand

God

“Laughter, along with madness, seemed to be the only way out, the emergency exit for humans.”

Matt Haig (1975) British writer

Source: The Humans

Way, Laughter, Madness

“Faith in God means believing absolutely in something with no proof whatsoever. Faith in humanity means believing absolutely in something with a huge amount of proof to the contrary. We are the true believers.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

God, Faith

“The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. (Death)”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Variant: I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty and I wonder how the same can be both.
Source: The Book Thief

Death, Beauty

“Humanity's true moral test, its fundamental test, consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect humankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), as quoted in Milan Kundera (2003) by Harold Bloom, [//books.google.it/books?id=SXDojRJFMPIC&pg=PA91 p. 91]
Context: True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude toward those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.

Suffering, Animals

“Once you have perceived that life is very cruel, the only response is to live with as much humanity, humour and freedom as you can.”

Sarah Kane (1971–1999) playwright from England

Life, Freedom

“Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

Source: god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Parting

“Drifting off to sleep, I thought about her. How nobody is perfect. How you just have to close your eyes and breathe out and let the puzzle of the human heart be what it is.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Sleep, Heart, Perfection

“The human heart is like a night bird. Silently waiting for something, and when the time comes, it flies straight toward it.”

Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Bird, Time, Waiting, Heart

“Participation - that's what's gonna save the human race.”

Pete Seeger (1919–2014) American folk singer

“The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

Animals

“I am looking for the human who admits his flaws
Who shocks the adversary
By being kinder not stronger
What would that be like?
We don't even know”

Naomi Shihab Nye (1952) American writer

Source: Honeybee: Poems Short Prose

“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Feeling, Cats

“Creativity - like human life itself - begins in darkness.”

Julia Cameron book The Artist's Way

Variant: Creativity — like human life itself — begins in darkness.
Source: The Artist's Way (1992)
Context: Creativity — like human life itself — begins in darkness. We need to acknowledge this. All too often, we think only in terms of light: "And then the lightbulb went on and I got it!" It is true that insights may come to us as flashes. It is true that some of these flashes may be blinding. It is, however, also true that such bright ideas are preceded by a gestation period that is interior, murky, and completely necessary.

Life

“If he turned his back on humanity now, it would be forever.”

Darren Shan book Birth of a Killer

Source: Birth of a Killer

“Learning

To believe you are magnificent. And gradually to discover that you are not magnificent. Enough labor for one human life.”

Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator

Life, Learning

“A reduction of meat consumption by only 10% would result in about 12 million more tons of grain for human consumption. This additional grain could feed all of the humans across the world who starve to death each year- about 60 million people!”

Marc Bekoff (1945) American biologist

Source: Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect

Death, People, World

“How can I make him understand that he did not create me?
He makes the same mistake as the others when they look at a feeble-minded person and laugh because they don't understand there are human feelings involved.”

Daniel Keyes book Flowers for Algernon

Source: Flowers for Algernon

Feeling, Understanding, Personality

“It is the duty of the human understanding to understand that there are things which it cannot understand, and what those things are.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

1847
1840s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s
Context: It is the duty of the human understanding to understand that there are things which it cannot understand, and what those things are. Human understanding has vulgarly occupied itself with nothing but understanding, but if it would only take the trouble to understand itself at the same time it would simply have to posit the paradox.

Understanding