Insight into universal nature provides an intellectual delight and sense of freedom that no blows of fate and no evil can destroy.
Alexander Von HumboldtRead
Cruelty to animals is one of the most significant vices of a low and ignoble people. Wherever one notices them, they constitute a sign of ignorance and brutality which cannot be painted over even by all the evidence of wealth and luxury.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Cruelty towards animals reflects a lack of humanity and signifies deeper moral failings in society.
In this quote, Alexander Von Humboldt emphasizes that cruelty to animals is a fundamental indicator of a society's moral decay. He suggests that even in the presence of wealth and luxury, the underlying ignorance and brutality revealed through such cruelty cannot be hidden, serving as a measure of a people's character and ethics.
Themes
CrueltyAnimalsMoralitySocietyIgnoranceBrutality
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for animal rights, one might quote Humboldt to highlight societal failings.
More from Alexander Von Humboldt
All quotes →Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die Weltanschauung derer, die die Welt nie angeschaut haben. (The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world)
Alexander Von HumboldtRead
Similar quotes
Sincerity is the same in a corner alone, as it is before the face of the world. It knows not how to wear two vizards, one for an appearance before men, and another for a short snatch in a corner; but it must have God, and be with him in the duty of prayer. It is not lip-labour that it doth regard, for it is the heart that God looks at, and that which sincerity looks at, and that which prayer comes from, if it be that prayer which is accompanied with sincerity.
John BunyanRead
The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread. When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out "stop!" When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.
Bertolt BrechtRead
You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies.
Shimon PeresRead
Capitalism has forced everyone to overoptimize in order to compete.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
The world will never be long without some good reason to hate the unhappy; their real faults are immediately detected; and if those are not sufficient to sink them into infamy, an individual weight of calumny will be super-added.
Samuel JohnsonRead
It is odd that neither the Church nor modern public opinion condemns petting, provided it stops short at a certain point. At what point sin begins is a matter as to which casuists differ. One eminently orthodox Catholic divine laid it down that a confessor may fondle a nun's breasts, provided he does it without evil intent. But I doubt whether modern authorities would agree with him on this point.
Bertrand RussellRead