The civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race is degraded. It is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest philosophy, that man is one, and that you cannot injure any member, without a sympathetic injury to all the members
Interpretation
True civility and equality cannot exist if any group is treated unfairly or degraded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the interconnectedness of humanity in this quote, suggesting that the dignity and civility of any race are diminished when another race is mistreated. He advocates for the idea that all individuals are part of a single human community, where the harm done to one affects the entire collective, reflecting a fundamental principle that highlights the importance of empathy and solidarity among different races and groups.
In practice
In a discussion about racial equality, this quote can emphasize the importance of solidarity among all races.
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Mind is the Maker, for no reason at all, for all this creation, created to fall.
Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it.
Ignorance of how we are shaped racially is the first sign of privilege. In other words. It is a privilege to ignore the consequences of race in America.
It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion science offers a surer path to God than religion.
The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.
Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong... It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals.
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