Scopes isn’t on trial; civilization is on trial.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that the issues at hand reflect broader concerns about society and its values rather than just the individual or event in question.
Clarence Darrow's statement emphasizes that the trial, often perceived as a legal battle, is actually a reflection of the moral and ethical standards of civilization itself. It implies that the outcome of the trial transcends the immediate case, challenging society's views on education, freedom of thought, and the progress of humanity. Darrow is pointing to the larger implications of the events, highlighting that the true stakes involve the future of civil rights and knowledge in an increasingly complex world.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of freedom of expression, I might quote Darrow to illustrate the broader implications of individual cases in society.
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.
One life; a little gleam of Time between two Eternities; no second chance to us for evermore!
World has things which full fill man needs, but not greeds.
Do good to the people for the sake of God or for the peace of your own soul that you may always see what is pure and save your Heart from the darkness of hate
You can make the Ring into an allegory of our own time, if you like: and allegory of the inevitable fate that waits for all attempts to defeat evil power by power.
No single event can awaken within us a stranger whose existence we had never suspected. To live is to be slowly born.
While everyone has racial bias, I reserve the word 'racist' to describe the bias that white people have - our collective bias is backed by institutional power.
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