African Spir Quotes

#1. Men spend their life down here in the worship of petty (or mean) interests and the search of perishable things, and with that ("et avec cela", Fr.) they pretend to perpetuate for all eternity their self ("moi", Fr.) so hardly worthy ("digne", Fr.) of it.

African Spir

#2. It depends on ourselves to be to each others, either a blessing or a torment.

African Spir

#3. There are some who esteem that it is a naivety to believe that a moral regeneration may be possible ("soit possible", Fr.); now, if this was not the case, it would not be worth the trouble that humanity continue to vegetate without aim.

African Spir

#4. Up to here, in general, we have mainly stuffed the brain of the young people with a indigestible multitude of varios notions, without thinking about enough of the prime necessity to form their character.

African Spir

#5. A man, engaged in his simple reflections in everyday life, will comprehend neither the possibility, nor the benefits of self-sacrifice, but, when given ("qu'on lui donne", Fr.) a great cause to defend, and he will find only natural to sacrifice oneself for it.

African Spir

#6. There are (or is) indeed no contradiction between science and religion, the fields of which are different, and which, far from mutually fighting and persecute, must, on the contrary, complete each other.

African Spir

#7. There is a radical dualism between the empirical nature of man and its moral nature.

African Spir

#8. Place (or put) a spider on top of a mountain, it will only try to catch flies; alas, they are many those who, in the figurative meaning, have spider's eyes.

African Spir

#9. In the actual state of social relationships, the forms ("formes", Fr.) of politeness are necessary as a subsitute to benevolence.

African Spir

#10. If man do not find in himself the required (or wished, or wanted, - "voulue", Fr.) force to accomplish his moral aspirations, he can try to purt himself in the conditions suitable to assist (or promote, or further, -"favoriser", Fr.) his self-control.

African Spir

#11. To sacrifice the moral to the physical, as is done in these days, is to sacrifice reality for a shadow.

African Spir

#12. We can, following the exemple of Kant, consider the moral development and improvement of men, as the supreme goal of human evolution.

African Spir

#13. The well understood equity as well as interest of society demand that we work on much more to prevent crime and offenses than to punish them.

African Spir

#14. It is not on the ruin of liberty that we may (in the future ... - "pourra", Fr.) build justice.

African Spir

#15. The precept to worship God 'in spirit and in truth' recommand to worship him as an inward and moral force, without physical attributes and with no relation to fears and egoist wishes.

African Spir

#16. The divine element manifests itself (or show up) in man as well by his aptitude for science, than by his aptitude for virtue. True morality, true philosophy and true art are in their essence ("dans leur essence", Fr.) religious.

African Spir

#17. Only a moral education based on free inner discipline can bring to bear a salutary action and lead to a true morality.

African Spir

#18. The first principle from which stems the moral of about all people at all time; it is summarized in this precept: Love thy neighbour as thyself, and: do as you would be done by.

African Spir

#19. Arbitrariness and true liberty are as distinct from each other that the empirical nature is distinct from the higher nature of man.

African Spir

#20. The moral improvement demands an evolution leading to a higher consciousness

African Spir

#21. A good man ("un homme de bien", Fr.) never wholly perishes, the best part of his being outlives (or survives) in eternity.

African Spir

#22. The realization of justice is, in the actual state of things, a matter of life or death for society and for civilisation itself.

African Spir

#23. To be effective, morality has to be reasoned (or worked out). To want ("vouloir", Fr.) to repress evil only by coercion, and to obtain morality by a sort of training with the help of constraint, without motivating it from within, is to make it an unnatural result, devoided of lastind value.

African Spir

#24. To reform society, and with it humanity, there is only one mean; to transform the mentality of men, to direct them ("les orienter", Fr.) in a new spirit.

African Spir

#25. If the present civilisation does not acquire some stable moral fondations ("bases morales stables", Fr.), its existence will hardly be more assured than that of the civilisations that have preceeded it, and which have fallen (or collapse, or failed

African Spir

#26. The more a man is successful in getting out (or coming out) from his own individuality, of his egoist self, and to control (or dominate) the instincts of his physical nature, the more his character, by rising above material contingencies, widen, become free and independent.

African Spir

#27. The basic notion of justice, is that the rights of everybody are equals, in principle. In the rights of others, we have to respect our own rights. It is only in that condition that we can reasonnably require that it be respected by others.

African Spir

#28. The most sacred duty, the supreme and urgent work, is to deliver humanity from the malediction of Cain - fratricidal war.

African Spir

#29. The appalling and shameful scene ("spectacle", Fr.) of disarray and illogicality that manifest itself in the thought and deeds of men, will no longer be seen, once these will possess an enlighten consciouness.

African Spir

#30. Possessions of this world have not been for the exclusive use by such or such category of individuals.

African Spir

#31. If pity was always equally alive and acting in all individuals and in all circumstances, we could do away with moral. Unfortunately, it is not compassion, but rather it's contrary, selfishness, that act most strongly in us.

African Spir

#32. As long as men will not be freed from their errors and delusions, humanity will not be able to go towards ("marcher vers", Fr.) the accomplishment of its true destinies.

African Spir

#33. What is the use for a man to have at his disposal a large field of action, if within himself he remains confine to the narrow limits of his individuality.

African Spir

#34. There is only one thing in the world that is really valuable, it is to do good.

African Spir