52 Quotes About the Best and Worst of Humanity

 

At times, we view our own perspective as the only perspective.

We are shaped by our personal experiences, preconceptions, and relentless self-interests. We see the world through our own lens, a lens that may ignore or disregard the views of others.

What does it take for us to move beyond our limited perceptions? How do we shatter the walls we've built around ourselves? And what will it take to build genuine empathy and connection? With each other? With ourselves? With those we have never met, but think we understand?

Our perceptions of who we are and who we think others are can bring out the best, or the worst, in humanity. People are complex and, yet, we are simple.

Beyond the smoke and mirrors, we are looking for the same things: respect, dignity, acknowledgement, and self-worth. To achieve these ends, we must willingly look beyond the façades and engage with each other. Question. Listen. Reflect.

Understanding yourself and others is a reciprocal process. First, see the individual. Otherwise, any attempt to understand their motives, their lives, and their struggles will be in vain.

When you intentionally move beyond a worldview that glorifies narrow boundaries, when you make a genuine effort to understand another person's reasoning and perspective, you transcend into a world beyond yourself.

Even if you don't agree with what they say, you learn to grasp the logic and emotion behind their personal journey. You see the world from their vantage point. Use that vantage point to understand, to build community, to empathize.

True empathy is not about sharing an experience. True empathy is about making a genuine effort to understand an experience. True empathy is a stepping stone to true wisdom.

Your perception is a reflection of yourself. It is not an objective view of the world.

Challenge your perception of who you think you are and who you think other people are.

Your reality is a mirror, not a window. What you see in the mirror could reflect the best of humanity, or it could reflect the worst of humanity.

Strive to be the best humanity has to offer.

Quotes About Being Human

We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are. ~ Anonymous

Empathy means you don't have to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, but you have to understand the walk. ~ Derius Swinton

An age is called Dark, not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it. ~ James Michener

Great modesty often hides great merit. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Self-interest, that leprosy of the age, attacks us from infancy, and we are startled to observe little heads calculate before knowing how to reflect. ~ Delphine de Girardin

You learn eventually that, while there are no villains, there are no heroes either. ~ Paul Gallico

...until you make the final discovery that there are only human beings, who are therefore all the more fascinating, you are liable to miss something. ~ Paul Gallico

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly; devils fall because of their gravity. ~ G.K. Chesterton

In an audience of rough people a generous sentiment always brings down the house; in a tumult of war both sides applaud a heroic deed. ~ Thomas Wentworth Higginson

You can't judge my choices without understanding my reasons. ~ Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi)

Every trait of beauty may be referred to some virtue, as to innocence, candor, generosity, modesty, and heroism. ~ Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre

Look about, my son, and see how little wisdom it takes to govern the world. ~ Axel Oxenstierna

Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. ~ Aldous Huxley

A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Humans aren't as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

...maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were 'reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.' ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

The violence of love is as much to be dreaded as that of hate. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Evil beginnings have most commonly wretched endings. ~ Euripides

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. ~ Albert Camus

A strong friendship doesn't need daily conversation or being together. As long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends never part. ~ Anonymous

The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? ~ Pablo Casals

Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right. ~ Ricky Gervais

Everyone is needed, but no one is necessary. ~ Bruce Coslet

The best mirror is an old friend. ~ George Herbert

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The stars awaken a certain reverence because though always present they are inaccessible. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A friend to all is a friend to none. ~ Aristotle

If you're not at the table, you're on the menu. ~ Anonymous

Virtue may not always make a face handsome, but vice will certainly make it ugly. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Why should man boast of his strength; is not the horse stronger than he? ~ Confucius

We often see ourselves best by looking at others, and sometimes see them best by looking at ourselves. ~ Mark Frank

An avaricious man is a great lover of generosity—in everybody except himself. ~ George Denison Prentice

Outward actions show internal secrets. ~ Andrew Cowan

We would often be ashamed of our noblest actions, if the world were acquainted with the motives that impelled us. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld

Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself. You'll rise together. ~ James Clear

If anyone is trying to make you jealous of their own heaven, they are clearly not happy enough there. ~ George Hammond

Until you can make room in your life for someone as important to you as yourself, you will always be searching and lost... ~ Richard Bach

Who does nothing, knows nothing. ~ Jean Baptiste Aloysius

Don't measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated. ~ Charlie Mackesy

If men could only know each other, they would never either idolize or hate. ~ Elbert Hubbard

Making space for someone in your life doesn't guarantee they'll make space for you in theirs. ~ Mia Sosa

There are so many more important things to worry about than how you're perceived by strangers. ~ Dennis Lehane

Sometimes you don't realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness. ~ Susan Gale

I am not what I think. I am thinking what I think. ~ Eric Butterworth

I was thinking that we all learn by experience, but some of us have to go to summer school. ~ Peter de Vries

Opinion is that exercise of the human will which helps us to make a decision without information. ~ John Erskine

They've promised that dreams can come true – but forgot to mention that nightmares are dreams, too. ~ Oscar Wilde

There's no use in having principle if you're not going to exercise it because it costs you something. ~ Ken Frazier

Those that praise themselves have nothing else to praise. ~ Theomantius

Effort brings reward and reward is deepest when it's not for you. ~ Michael J. Fox

They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. ~ Louis Brandeis

True intelligence always questions, even if that means questioning itself. ~ Alyssa Cole