Respect for the fragility and importance of an individual life is still the mark of an educated man.
Norman CousinsRead
Reverence for life is more than solicitude or sensitivity for life. It is a sense of the whole, a capacity for inspired response, a respect for the intricate universe of individual life. It is the supreme awareness of awareness itself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reverence for life emphasizes a deep respect and awareness of all living things and the interconnectedness of existence.
This quote by Norman Cousins reflects the profound understanding of life that goes beyond mere empathy or concern for individual beings. It highlights the importance of recognizing the complex web of life that connects us all, urging a recognition of our shared existence and the responsibility that comes with such awareness. The phrase 'supreme awareness of awareness itself' speaks to the idea that true understanding transcends surface-level recognition and engages with the essence of life itself.
Themes
ReverenceLifeAwarenessInterconnectednessSensitivityUniverse
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on environmental conservation, one might use the quote to highlight the importance of respecting all forms of life.
More from Norman Cousins
All quotes →Never deny a diagnosis, but do deny the negative verdict that may go with it.
Norman CousinsRead
Although a man may have no jurisdiction over the fact of his existence, he can hold supreme command over the meaning of existence for him.
Norman CousinsRead
People are never more insecure than when they become obsessed with their fears at the expense of their dreams.
Norman CousinsRead
Drugs are not always necessary. Belief in recovery always is.
Norman CousinsRead
The individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference. He has it within his means to nourish the former and outgrow the latter.
Norman CousinsRead
Similar quotes
Tell me there is a God in the serene heavens that will damn his children for the expression of an honest belief! More men have died in their sins, judged by your orthodox creeds, than there are leaves in all the forests in the wide world ten thousand times over. Tell me these men are in Hell; that these men are in torment; that these children are in eternal pain, and that they are to be punished forever and forever! I denounce this doctrine as the most infamous of lies.
Robert Green IngersollRead
Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip," Jonathan would say, other times, "is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.
Richard BachRead
A woman may possess the wisdom and chastity of Minerva, and we give no heed to her, if she has a plain face. What folly will not a pair of bright eyes make pardonable? What dullness may not red lips are sweet accents render pleasant? And so, with their usual sense of justice, ladies argue that because a woman is handsome, therefore she is a fool. O ladies, ladies! there are some of you who are neither handsome nor wise.
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
Legal ethics is a misnomer ... lawyers conducting themselves legally are not necessarily conducting themselves morally ."...and ..."The zero sum nature of the legal system, combined with the universal adoption of zealotry as the marching orders of practioners and prosecutors, transforms the moral mission of the legal system from one of truth-seeking, storytelling, and justice, to one of fabrication, distortion, and manipulation in pursuit of victory. These victories, however, make us all losers.
Thane RosenbaumRead
I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth, a nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the sea.
Bernard MoitessierRead
In proportion to the development of his individuality, each person becomes more valuable to himself, and is therefore capable of being more valuable to others. . . .
John Stuart MillRead