“Human rights' are a fine thing, but how can we make ourselves sure that our rights do not expand at the expense of the rights of others. A society with unlimited rights is incapable of standing to adversity. If we do not wish to be ruled by a coercive authority, then each of us must rein himself in... A stable society is achieved not by balancing opposing forces but by conscious self-limitation: by the principle that we are always duty-bound to defer to the sense of moral justice.”
Human-rights · Justice · Moral-philosophy · Self-limitation · Social-responsibility
“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
Good-and-evil · Human-nature · Self-reflection · Wisdom
“If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?”
Curiosity
“It's an universal law – intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.”
Education · Humility · Intolerance · Personal-growth · Wisdom
“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
Equality · Freedom · Human-nature · Reality
“A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.”
Human-rights · Political-philosophy · Tyranny
“Men have forgotten God;
that's why all this has happened...”
God · Tragedy
“My wish for you... is that your skeptic-eclectic brain be flooded with the light of truth.”
Enlightenment · Skepticism · Truth-seeking
“Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.”
Consequences · Faith · History · Human-nature · Philosophy
“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains ... an unprooted small corner of evil.”
Good-and-evil · Human-nature · Moral-philosophy · Personal-growth · Self-reflection
