I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.
Interpretation
Agnosticism is a position of humility regarding knowledge and belief.
In this quote, Clarence Darrow expresses that he sees being called an agnostic not as an insult, but as a compliment. He emphasizes that agnosticism reflects a recognition of the limitations of human knowledge, contrasting it with the certainty displayed by those who claim to know truths without sufficient evidence. This perspective champions intellectual humility and openness to the complexities of existence and belief.
In practice
During a philosophical discussion about the nature of belief systems.
With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in men, than any other association of men.
Do I need to argue to Your Honor that cruelty only breeds cruelty? That hatred only causes hatred; that if there is any way to soften this human heart which is hard enough at its best, if there is any way to kill evil and hatred and all that goes with it, it is not through evil and hatred and cruelty; it is through charity, and love, and understanding?
Chase after the truth like all hell.
No other offense has ever been visited with such severe penalties as seeking to help the oppressed.
Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man. She will have nothing from him who will not give her all. She knows that his pretended love serves but to betray. But when once the fierce heat of her quenchless, lustrous eyes have burned into the victim's heart, he will know no other smile but hers.
The trouble with law is lawyers.
Capitalism itself is not to be condemned. And surely it is not vicious of its very nature, but it has been vitiated.
Either we are adrift in chaos or we are individuals, created, loved, upheld and placed purposefully, exactly where we are. Can you believe that? Can you trust God for that?
What does it say about a society that it devotes more care and patience to the selection of those who handle its money than of those who handle its children?
Anthroposophy does not want to impart knowledge. It seeks to awaken life.
Luck is not the hand of God.... Luck is the way the wind swirls and the dust settles eons after God has passed by.
All is forgotten in the stone halls of the dead. These are the rooms of ruin where the spiders spin and the great circuits fall quiet, one by one.
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