Man is the only creature disposed to kill huge numbers of members of his own species, and his instrument is usually the state.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on humanity's unique tendency for internal conflict and mass violence, often facilitated by governmental power.
Joseph Sobran highlights the paradoxical nature of humanity; unlike any other species, humans have a propensity for violence against their own kind, frequently orchestrated through political mechanisms. This observation invites a deep reflection on the role of the state in facilitating such actions, suggesting that societal structures can both protect and endanger the very people they are meant to serve.
In practice
In a debate about the role of government during times of war, this quote can emphasize the darker aspects of state power.
There has never been a humane communist regime. Marxism is inherently totalitarian. It recognizes no moral limits on the state. It’s the most convenient ideology for aspiring tyrants; it also retains its appeal for intellectuals, who have proved equally skillful at rationalizing abuses of power and at exculpating themselves.
The prospect of a government that treats all its citizens as criminal suspects is more terrifying than any terrorist. And even more frightening is a citizenry that can accept the surrender of its freedoms as the price of "freedom".
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. For the least sin, it wouldn't take us longTo get so we had no one left to live with.For to be social is to be forgiving.
Life is the farce we are all forced to endure.
Rich Mullins was the uneasy conscience of Christian music. He didn't live like a star. He'd taken a vow of poverty so that what he earned could be used to help others.
We do become our conversations. We really will become our associations.
This is the bravo’s dance, the water dance, swift and sudden. All men are made of water, do you know this? When you pierce them, the water leaks out and they die.
I received a letter just before I left office from a man. I don't know why he chose to write it, but I'm glad he did. He wrote that you can go to live in France, but you can't become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Italy, but you can't become a German, an Italian. He went through Turkey, Greece, Japan and other countries. But he said anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American.
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