The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are... the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the "easy life of the gods" would be a lifeless life.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is the human condition to question one god after another, one appearance after another, or better, one apparition after another..., always pursuing the truth of the imagination, which is not the same as the truth of appearance.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
We have imagined ourselves a special creation, set apart from other humans. In the last twentieth century, we see that our poverty... is as absolute as that of the poorest nations. We have attempted to deny the human condition in our quest for power after power. It would be well for us to rejoin the human race, to accept our essential poverty as a gift, and to share our material wealth with those in need.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The limitless future of childhood shrinks to realistic proportions, to one of limited chances and goals; but, by the same token, t...he mastery of time and space and the conquest of helplessness afford a hitherto unknown promise of self- realization. This is the human condition of adolescence.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Surely knowledge of the natural world, knowledge of the human condition, knowledge of the nature and dynamics of society, knowledg...e of the past so that one may use it in experiencing the present and aspiring to the future--all of these, it would seem reasonable to suppose, are essential to an educated man. To these must be added another--knowledge of the products of our artistic heritage that mark the history of our esthetic wonder and delight.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
One key, one solution to the mysteries of the human condition, one solution to the old knots of fate, freedom, and foreknowledge, ...exists, the propounding, namely, of the double consciousness. A man must ride alternately on the horses of his private and public nature, as the equestrians in the circus throw themselves nimbly from horse to horse, or plant one foot on the back of one, and the other foot on the back of the other.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Every man beholds his human condition with a degree of melancholy. As a ship aground is battered by the waves, so man, imprisoned ...in mortal life, lies open to the mercy of coming events.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To see self-sufficiency as the hallmark of maturity conveys a view of adult life that is at odds with the human condition, a view ...that cannot sustain the kinds of long-term commitments and involvements with other people that are necessary for raising and educating a child or for citizenship in a democratic society.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
No society has been able to abolish human sadness, no political system can deliver us from the pain of living, from our fear of de...ath, our thirst for the absolute. It is the human condition that directs the social condition, not vice versa.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »