A Quote by Boris Pasternak

What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth.

Boris Pasternak

Quote Topics

Power Truth Above Beast Centuries Irresistible Man Raised Unarmed

Quote Author

Boris Pasternak
Russian - Novelist
January 29, 1890 - May 30, 1960

I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats of any kind, whether of jail or retribution, then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer, not the prophet who sacrificed himself.... What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth.

Boris Pasternak

... the unarmed power of naked truth.

Boris Pasternak

The most tremendous genius raised Mozart above all masters, in all centuries and in all the arts.

Richard Wagner

An armed republic submits less easily to the rule of one of its citizens than a republic armed by foreign forces. Rome and Sparta were for many centuries well armed and free. The Swiss are well armed and enjoy great freedom. Among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible. It is not reasonable to suppose that one who is armed will obey willingly one who is unarmed; or that any unarmed man will remain safe among armed servants.

Niccolo Machiavelli

There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Superstition changes a man to a beast, fanaticism makes him a wild beast, and despotism a beast of burden.

Jean-Francois de La Harpe

Beast?" Jane murmured. "Then God make me a beast; for, man or beast, I am yours.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

A beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it.

George MacDonald

Just think, reader, what will happen to you if the truth of a mad beast overpowers the sane truth of man?

Maxim Gorky

A man without justice is a beast, and a man who would make himself a beast forgets the pain of being a man.

Timothy Leary

Man is born a barbarian, and only raises himself above the beast by culture.

Baltasar Gracian

For the world is broken, sundered, busted down the middle, self ripped from self and man pasted back together as mythical monster, half angel, half beast, but no man...Some day a man will walk into my office as a ghost or beast or ghost-beast and walk out as a man, which is to say sovereign wanderer, lordly exile, worker and waiter and watcher.

Walker Percy

Though the man above might say hello, expect no love from the beast below

Steven Moffat

The most irresistible charm of youth is its bubbling enthusiasm. Youth sees no darkness ahead - no defile that has no outlet - it forgets that there is such a thing as failure in the world and believes that mankind has been waiting all these centuries for him to come and be the liberator of truth and energy and beauty.

Orison Swett Marden

Faith stands or falls on the truth that the future with God is more satisfying than the one promised by sin. Where this truth is embraced and God is cherished above all, the power of sin is broken. The power of sin is the power of deceit. Sin has power through promising a false future. In temptation sin comes to us and says: "The future with God on his narrow way is hard and unhappy, but the way I promise is pleasant and satisfying." The power of sin is in the power of this lie.