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.
No human being should ever have to fear for his own life because of political or religious beliefs. We are all in this together, my friends, the rich, the poor, the red, white, black, brown and yellow. We share responsibility for Mother Earth and those who live and breathe upon her ..never forget that.
Why do we take pleasure in gruesome death, neatly packaged as a puzzle to which we may find a satisfactory solution through clues - or if we are not clever enough, have it revealed by the all-powerful tale-teller at the end of the book? It is something to do with being reduced to, and comforted by, playing by the rules.
What profit is there in agreeing that universal friendship is good, and talking of the solidarity of the human race as a grand ideal? Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action, they are useless. The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people only talk of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world's misery would very soon be changed into comfort.
We are born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Everything in-between is a gift.
All good things are cheap: all bad are very dear.
I feel it now: there's a power in me to grasp and give shape to my world I know that nothing has ever been real without my beholding it. All becoming has need me.
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