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About this quote

What does it mean?
When humans place themselves at the center of meaning, they paradoxically lose connection with the world and control over it.
In plain terms
Putting man at the center of everything makes the world less human and harder to control.
What can you take from it?
Humility towards the world preserves human connection and control.

Where it applies

  • environmental ethics
  • philosophical debates
  • societal planning

Putting it to work

  • adopt ecological perspectives
  • re-evaluate human centrality

Questions to consider

  • What does it mean to be human in a vast universe?
  • How do we balance human needs with global limits?

Another view

The quote assumes a specific philosophical stance that not all agree with.

More from Vaclav Havel

  1. When a person tries to act in accordance with his conscience, when he tries to speak the truth, when he tries to behave like a citizen, even in conditions wher…

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  2. If the world is to change for the better it must start with a change in human consciousness, in the very humanness of modern man.

    Permalink to quote #26
  3. Isn't it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one co…

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