"Cities have always been the fireplaces of civilization, whence light and heat radiated out into the dark."
"First there is the democratic idea: that all men are endowed by their creator with certain natural rights; that these rights are alienable only by the possessor thereof; that they are equal in men; that government is to organize these natural, unalienable and equal rights into institutions designed for the good of the governed, and therefore government is to be of all the people, by all the people, and for all the people. Here government is development, not exploitation."
16 likes
Source: Theodore Parker (1867). “Additional Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons”, p.25
About the author
Same author
More quotes by Theodore Parker
"Never violate the sacredness of your individual self-respect."
"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."
"Outward judgment often fails, inward judgment never."
"I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight, I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."
"Democracy means not "I am as good as you are" but "You are as good as I am."."