No man is so great as mankind.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the collective greatness of humanity over individual achievements.
Theodore Parker's quote reflects the idea that the achievements and potential of humanity as a whole far exceed those of any single individual. It suggests that while individual accomplishments may be impressive, they pale in comparison to the shared strength, intelligence, and creativity of mankind as a collective. This perspective encourages a sense of unity and collective responsibility, recognizing that true greatness arises from our collaborations and connections with one another.
In practice
In a discussion about teamwork and collaboration, this quote could inspire participants to appreciate the power of working together.
A democracy,- that is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.
Want and wealth equally harden the human heart, as frost and fire are both alien to the human flesh. Famine and gluttony alike drive away nature from the heart of man.
The books which help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is by easy reading; every man that tries it finds it so. But a great book that comes from a great thinker, β it is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth, with beauty too.
Outward judgment often fails, inward judgment never.
You may not, cannot, appropriate beauty. It is the wealth of the eye, and a cat may gaze upon a king.
Let us do our duty in our shop or our kitchen, in the market, the street, the office, the school, the home, just as faithfully as if we stood in the front rank of some great battle, and knew that victory for mankind depended on our bravery, strength, and skill. When we do that, the humblest of us will be serving in that great army which achieves the welfare of the world.
Let people return to making knots on ropes, instead of writing.
How can you take seriously someone who likes to believe something because he finds it 'comforting'?
Corliss wondered what happens to a book that sits unread on a library shelf for thirty years. Can a book rightfully be called a book if it never gets read? If a tree falls in a forest and gets pulped to make paper for a book that never gets read, but there's nobody there to read it, does it make a sound?
No man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions.
The goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately defeat him.
The very people who shudder over the cruelty of the hunter are apt to forget that slaughter, in the grimmest sense of the word, is a process they entrust daily to the butcher; and that unlike the game of the forests, even the dumbest creatures of the slaughterhouse know what is in store for them.
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