You ought to love all mankind; nay, every individual of mankind. You ought not to love the individuals of your domestic circles less, but to love those who exist beyond it more. Once make the feelings of confidence and of affection universal, and the distinctions of property and power will vanish; nor are they to be abolished without substituting something equivalent in mischief to them, until all mankind shall acknowledge an entire community of rights.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Universal love for all people would eliminate property and power distinctions naturally.
- In plain terms
- If we love everyone equally, power and property differences will end.
- What can you take from it?
- Universal love removes social divisions.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can love solve injustice?
- How do you love broadly?
Another view
Power structures often resist love-based change.
More from Percy Bysshe Shelley
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