Quotes on Men

We must conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members.

There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.

Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man.

It is not only arrogant, but it is profligate, for a man to disregard the world's opinion of himself.

The man who commands efficiently must have obeyed others in the past, and the man who obeys dutifully is worthy of someday being a commander.

He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.

The searching-out and thorough investigation of truth ought to be the primary study of man.

Education makes machines which act like men and produces men who act like machines.

Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them.

Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.

Masculinity is risky and elusive. It is achieved by a revolt from woman, and it is confirmed only by other men. Manhood coerced into sensitivity is no manhood at all.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

Fondly we think we honor merit then, when we but praise ourselves in other men.

Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.

A wise man's questions contain half the answer.

A man's own manner and character is what most becomes him.

O wretched man, wretched not just because of what you are, but also because you do not know how wretched you are!

Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.

The man who gives me employment, which I must have or suffer, that man is my master, let me call him what I will.

It is just as hard to do your duty when men are sneering at you as when they are shouting at you.

The same ideas, one must believe, recur in men's minds not once or twice but again and again.