Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.
Rachel CarsonRead
Until we have courage to recognize cruelty for what it is - whether its victim is human or animal - we cannot expect things to be much better in the world. There can be no double standard. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Recognizing and confronting cruelty is vital for improving the world and humanity.
This quote emphasizes the importance of courage in acknowledging and addressing cruelty towards all beings, whether human or animal. It suggests that a true moral standard cannot be selective; to promote peace and progress in humanity, we must reject any form of violence against living creatures and work towards a more compassionate world.
Themes
CourageCrueltyHumanityCompassionPeace
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about animal rights, one could cite this quote to advocate for compassionate treatment of all living beings.
More from Rachel Carson
All quotes →As crude a weapon as the cave man's club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life - a fabric on the one hand delicate and destructible, on the other miraculously tough and resilient, and capable of striking back in unexpected ways. These extraordinary capacities of life have been ignored by the practitioners of chemical control who have brought to their task no "high-minded orientation," no humility before the vast forces with which they tamper.
Rachel CarsonRead
Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of acquaintances who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?
Rachel CarsonRead
To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.
Rachel CarsonRead
We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature.
Rachel CarsonRead
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
Rachel CarsonRead
Similar quotes
I have no fear, for fear is the little death that kills me over and over. Without fear, I die but once.
Frank HerbertRead
Coming out, all the way out, is offered more and more as the political solution to our oppression.
Jane RuleRead
Fear is the dream killer, the silent voice that pushes us to lose our passion in a vain attempt to seek safety.
Seth GodinRead
Very often as a little girl, then as a young woman, I have suffered my lot of discrimination. I was brought up with brothers; I grew up in a boys' world. You have to elbow your way in. When you come with that sentiment of having been in a minority for a long period of time, then you are much more attentive to minorities.
Christine LagardeRead
I am an abolitionist. What does this mean? Abolitionist resistance and resilience draws from a legacy of black-led anti-colonial struggle in the United States and throughout the Americas, including places like Haiti, the first black republic founded on the principles of anti-colonialism and black liberation.
Patrisse CullorsRead
Fighting is endurance, knocking a guy out in 10 seconds is not fighting, its beating him to the punch. But when you put in that time, that is fighting because you are thinking
Mike TysonRead