Republics, one after another . . . have perished from a want of intelligence and virtue in the masses of the people. . . .
Interpretation
The survival of republics depends on the intelligence and virtue of their citizens.
Horace Mann emphasizes the crucial role that the collective intelligence and moral integrity of the populace play in the sustainability of democratic governments. When citizens lack understanding and ethical standards, the foundation of the republic weakens, leading to its decline and eventual collapse. This quote serves as a reminder of the responsibility each individual holds in maintaining a functional and resilient society.
In practice
In a speech about civic responsibility, one could cite this quote to encourage informed voting.
Under the Providence of God, our means of education are the grand machinery by which the 'raw material' of human nature can be worked up into inventors and discoverers, into skilled artisans and scientific farmers, into scholars and jurists, into the founders of benevolent institutions, and the great expounders of ethical and theological science.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
There may be frugality which is not economy. A community, that withholds the means of education from its children, withholds the bread of life and starves their souls.
Let us labor for that larger comprehension of truth, and that more thorough repudiation of error, which shall make the history of mankind a series of ascending developments.
Great knowledge is requisite to instruct those who have been well instructed, but still greater knowledge is requisite to instruct those who have been neglected.
Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal.
To examine oneself makes good use of sight.
Follow the three R's: - Respect for self. - Respect for others. - Responsibility for all your actions.
In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.
For want of a naile the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost.
Speak only the speech that neither torments self nor does harm to others. That speech is truly well spoken.
Whenever you are able, have a "look" inside yourself to see whether you are unconsciously creating conflict between the inner and the outer, between your external circumstances at that moment - where you are, who you are with, or what you are doing - and your thoughts and feelings. Can you feel how painful it is to internally stand in opposition to what is? When you recognize this, you also realize that you are now free to give up this futile conflict, this inner state of war.
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