We're all killers at heart . . . . I have never taken anybody's life, but I have often read obituary notices with considerable satisfaction.
Interpretation
This quote suggests an underlying darkness in human nature, highlighting our morbid curiosity about death.
Clarence Darrow's quote reflects on the inherent tendencies within humans to be fascinated by death and destruction. Though he denies taking a life, he admits to experiencing satisfaction when reading about others' deaths, which points to a paradox in human morality, where empathy and curiosity can coexist with darker impulses.
In practice
In a philosophical debate about the morality of human nature.
With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in men, than any other association of men.
Do I need to argue to Your Honor that cruelty only breeds cruelty? That hatred only causes hatred; that if there is any way to soften this human heart which is hard enough at its best, if there is any way to kill evil and hatred and all that goes with it, it is not through evil and hatred and cruelty; it is through charity, and love, and understanding?
Chase after the truth like all hell.
No other offense has ever been visited with such severe penalties as seeking to help the oppressed.
Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man. She will have nothing from him who will not give her all. She knows that his pretended love serves but to betray. But when once the fierce heat of her quenchless, lustrous eyes have burned into the victim's heart, he will know no other smile but hers.
The trouble with law is lawyers.
Oh, breathe not his name! let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonour'd his relics are laid
Sometimes people's spiritual ideas become fixed and they use them against those who don't share their beliefs - in effect, becoming fundamentalist. It's very dangerous - the finger of righteous indignation pointing at someone who is identified as bad or wrong.
In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes- courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, and so on - can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion, even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.
I used to be a Catholic. I left because I object to conversion by concussion. If you don't agree with what they teach, you get clobbered over the head until you do. All that does is change the shape of the head.
Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo not for a man.
God's address is at the end of your rope.
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