We may not live in the past, but the past lives in us.
Samuel PisarRead
The Holocaust teaches us that nature, even in its cruelest moments, is benign in comparison with man when he loses his moral compass and his reason.
Interpretation
The Holocaust illustrates how human cruelty can surpass even the harshness of nature when morality is abandoned.
Samuel Pisar's quote reflects on the profound lessons learned from the Holocaust, emphasizing that while nature can be harsh and cruel, it is fundamentally benign compared to the capacity for human cruelty when individuals lose their moral compass and reason. This stark contrast serves as a warning about the dangers of moral disconnection and the potential for humanity to inflict unimaginable suffering upon one another.
In practice
During a discussion on human rights violations, this quote can be cited to emphasize the importance of moral accountability.
We may not live in the past, but the past lives in us.
Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.
The fight is no longer between the classes or between rich and poor but between the idiots and the eco-conscious.
To bring about destruction by overcrowding, mass starvation, anarchy, the destruction of our most cherished values, there is no need to do anything. We need only do nothing except what comes naturally, and breed. And how easy it is to do nothing
The body is a reservoir of all sorts of tensions and dark forces. And it's also the potential source of amazing energy. This thing wants to live. It is a powerful engine. The brain (is) a reservoir of images, dreams, fears, associations, language. And its potential we can't even begin to understand. Movement begins to negotiate the distance between the brain and the body and it can be surprising what we learn about each other.
It seems to me that every phenomenon, every fact, itself is the really interesting object. Whoever explains it, or connects it with other events, usually only amuses himself or makes sport of us, as, for instance, the naturalist or historian. But a single action or event is interesting, not because it is explainable, but because it is true.
Man's greatness is great in that he knows himself wretched. A tree does not know itself wretched. It is then being wretched to know oneself wretched; but it is being great to know that one is wretched.
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