Each soul is crowned. Each soul wears the purple and the tiara; and only those are good citizens of the intellectual world who give to every other human being every right that they claim for themselves, and only those are traitors in the great realm of thought who abandon reason and appeal to force.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Every person has inherent dignity, and true citizenship in thought requires mutual respect and reason.
- In plain terms
- Everyone deserves respect and rights; traitors to thought use force instead of reason.
- What can you take from it?
- Respect others' rights as much as your own.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you show respect in disagreement?
- Is force ever justified in debate?
Another view
It idealizes reason while ignoring that force often shapes history.
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