Want and wealth equally harden the human heart, as frost and fire are both alien to the human flesh. Famine and gluttony alike drive away nature from the heart of man.
Theodore ParkerRead
A democracy,- that is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the essence of democracy as a government that serves its people in accordance with eternal principles of justice and freedom.
Theodore Parker highlights a profound view of democracy, suggesting that it is not merely a system of governance, but a representation of the collective will and rights of the people, rooted in timeless principles of justice and divine law. He frames democracy as an ideal of freedom, asserting that for a society to thrive, its government must operate in a way that is inclusive, just, and reflective of the moral imperatives that govern human existence.
Themes
DemocracyFreedomJusticePeopleGovernment
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for civil rights, one might say, 'As Theodore Parker reminds us, democracy is a government of all the people, emphasizing our shared responsibility for justice and freedom.'
More from Theodore Parker
All quotes →The books which help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is by easy reading; every man that tries it finds it so. But a great book that comes from a great thinker, — it is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth, with beauty too.
Theodore ParkerRead
No man is so great as mankind.
Theodore ParkerRead
Outward judgment often fails, inward judgment never.
Theodore ParkerRead
You may not, cannot, appropriate beauty. It is the wealth of the eye, and a cat may gaze upon a king.
Theodore ParkerRead
Let us do our duty in our shop or our kitchen, in the market, the street, the office, the school, the home, just as faithfully as if we stood in the front rank of some great battle, and knew that victory for mankind depended on our bravery, strength, and skill. When we do that, the humblest of us will be serving in that great army which achieves the welfare of the world.
Theodore ParkerRead
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The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped — it requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar territory, in circumstances that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections where we engage in prayerful conversation with one another and with him.
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One is forever throwing away substance for shadows.
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When human affairs are so ordered that there is no recognition of God, there is a belittling of man. That is why, in the final analysis, worship and law cannot be completely separated from each other. God has a right to a response from man, to man himself, and where that right of God totally disappears, the order of law among men is dissolved, because there is no cornerstone to keep the whole structure together.
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He thought that the rose was to be found in its own eternity and not in his words; and that we may mention or allude to a thing, but not express it.
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Sometimes you get the cynical person saying, 'Do we really need another book set in Nazi Germany?' But I think you just have to ask, 'Is this a story worth telling?'
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This life is not man's own show; if he becomes personally and emotionally involved in the very complicated cosmic drama, he reaps inevitable suffering for having distorted the divine 'plot.'
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