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About this quote

What does it mean?
True superiority comes from character and intellect, not from trampling others or racial accident.
In plain terms
A person is only as good as how they treat others and the quality of their mind.
What can you take from it?
Respect others to show your own worth.

Where it applies

  • leadership evaluation
  • ethical debates
  • social interactions

Putting it to work

  • assess leaders by actions
  • challenge racism
  • value empathy

Questions to consider

  • How do you measure your own worth?
  • What makes someone truly superior?

Another view

It assumes character is easily observable.

More from Robert G. Ingersoll

  1. 'Oh,' they say to me, 'but you take away immortality.' I do not. If we are immortal it is a fact in nature, and we are not indebted to priests for it, nor to b…

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  2. The superior man is the providence of the inferior. He is eyes for the blind, strength for the weak, and a shield for the defenseless. He stands erect by bendi…

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  3. I have made up my mind that if there is a God, he will be merciful to the merciful. Upon that rock I stand. That he will not torture the forgiving. Upon that r…

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