I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.
James Russell LowellRead
Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people.
Interpretation
We are more alike than we think, highlighting our shared humanity.
James Russell Lowell's quote emphasizes the commonality of human experience, suggesting that despite our individual differences, we share fundamental traits and emotions. This reminder encourages empathy and understanding, prompting us to recognize our connections with others rather than focusing solely on our distinctions.
In practice
In a TED talk about understanding different cultures.
I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.
The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.
Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
Good luck is the willing handmaid of upright, energetic character, and conscientious observance of duty.
Puritanism, believing itself quick with the seed of religious liberty, laid, without knowing it, the egg of democracy.
Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind.
Become aware, awake. Then you will see that everything comes and goes, all things come and pass. Life is a flux. Your consciousness is the only thing that is immovable, that is eternal. To attain it is freedom. To attain it is the goal of life. If you miss it you have missed your life and you have missed a tremendously great gift, a great opportunity.
Hold loosely to the things of this life, so that if God requires them of you, it will be easy to let them go.
To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set it free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching.
So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.
Anti-Semitism is a horrible disease from which nobody is immune, and it has a kind of evil fascination that makes an enlightened person draw near the source of infection, supposedly in a scientific spirit, but really to sniff the vapors and dally with the possibility.
Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room for it.
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