Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of forgiveness and understanding our shared human flaws.
Voltaire's quote highlights the inherent imperfections of humanity, suggesting that recognizing our collective weaknesses allows for mutual forgiveness. By urging us to pardon one another's follies, he advocates for compassion and understanding as fundamental aspects of human nature, reinforcing the notion that acceptance of our imperfections can lead to stronger relationships and a harmonious society.
In practice
In a speech about friendship, one might quote this to inspire camaraderie and understanding.
Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
If God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.
The environment is everything that isn't me.
The value of a man is in his intrinsic qualities: in that of which power cannot strip him and which adverse fortune cannot take away. That for which he is indebted to circumstances is mere trapping and tinsel.
In all their jollity in this world, the wicked are but as a book fairly bound, which when it is opened is full of nothing but tragedies. So when the book of their consciences shall be once opened, there is nothing to be read but lamentations and woes.
Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.
Male domination is so rooted in our collective unconscious that we no longer even see it.
We are often indifferent to our brethren who are distressed or upset, on the grounds that they are in this state through no fault of ours. The Doctor of souls, however, wishing to root out the soul's excuses from the heart, tells us to leave our gift and to be reconciled not only if we happen to be upset by our brother, but also if he is upset by us, whether justly or unjustly; only when we have healed the breach through our apology should we offer our gift.
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