Despite the authors of these quotes being separated by space, time, and their affiliations, it is easy to imagine that they all share the same empathic ethical belief system that respects all human and animal rights, the biosphere, consensually, and the freedom to self-actualize to achieve our full potential.
See Tenth Requisite
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948): - The future depends on what you do today. - Be the change you wish to see in the world. - The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. - If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning. - First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. - Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good. - Poverty is the worst form of violence. - Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. - There is sufficiency in the world for man’s need, but not for man’s greed. - There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. - Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is. - Where love is, there God is also. - God has no religion. - There is a higher court than the courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. - They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then they will have my dead body, but not my obedience. - Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary. - What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? - Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.
His Holiness Pope Francis: - We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace. - Hatred is not to be carried in the name of God. War is not to be waged in the name of God! - Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression, or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that create huge inequalities. - The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal. - Men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: It is the ‘culture of waste’. If a computer breaks it is a tragedy, but poverty, the needs and dramas of so many people end up being considered normal. - Women in the church are more important than bishops and priests. - All that is good, all that is true, all that is beautiful, God is the truth. - We all have the duty to do good. - Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV: - All religious institutions, despite different philosophical views, all have the same message—a message of love. - If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them. - The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, and forgiveness. - Irrespective of whether we are believers or agnostics, whether we believe in God or karma, moral ethics is a code which everyone is able to pursue. - The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis. - The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred. - A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals the secret of some hidden treasure. - A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity. - In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess. - Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace. - Through violence, you may ‘solve’ one problem, but you sow the seeds for another. - Don’t ever mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance or my kindness for weakness. Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. - A truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively or hurt you. - I defeat my enemies by making them my friends. - When you practice gratefulness, there is a sense of respect toward others. - With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s abilities, one can build a better world. - If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito. - As people alive today, we must consider future generations: A clean environment is a human right like any other. It is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world we pass on is as healthy, if not healthier, than we found it. - The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness. - The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your action will be. - Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. - Love is the absence of judgement. - Be kind when possible. It is always possible.
Dr Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968): - We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way. - I say to you, ‘I love you. I would rather die than hate you.’ And I’m foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love, somewhere, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed. - Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. - Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war. - True peace is not merely the absence of tension. It is the presence of justice. - Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - In a real sense, all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. - Every man must decide whether to walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. - The time is always right to do the right thing. - We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil. - You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. - Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. - Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. - We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal’. - Nonviolence is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who happen to be doing evil. It is evil that the nonviolent resister seeks to defeat, not the persons victimized by evil. - Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013): - Freedom can never be taken for granted. Each generation must safeguard it and extend it. Your parents and elders sacrificed much so that you should have freedom without suffering what they did. Use this precious right to ensure that the darkness of the past never returns. - Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. - Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. - As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest. - Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. - It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it. - May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.
Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792–1822): - Rise like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number! Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you: Ye are many—they are few! What is Freedom?—ye can tell That which slavery is, too well— For its very name has grown To an echo of your own. ‘Tis to work and have such pay As just keeps life from day to day In your limbs, as in a cell For the tyrants’ use to dwell, So that ye for them are made Loom, and plough, and sword, and spade, With or without your own will bent To their defence and nourishment. ‘Tis to see your children weak With their mothers pine and peak, When the winter winds are bleak,— They are dying whilst I speak.
Norbert Wiener (1894–1964): - The hour is very late, and the choice of good and evil knocks at our door.
Stafford Beer (1926–2002): - The purpose of a system is what it does. There is after all, no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955): - No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.
Margaret Mead (1901–1978): - Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): - I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956): - Change the world: She needs it!