"Cities have always been the fireplaces of civilization, whence light and heat radiated out into the dark."
"Mankind never loses any good thing, physical, intellectual, or moral, till it finds a better, and then the loss is a gain. No steps backward is the rule of human history. What is gained by one man is invested in all men, and is a permanent investment for all time."
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Source: Theodore Parker (1872). “The Collected Works of Theodore Parker: Lessons from the world of matter and the world of man”, p.221
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"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."."