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Human Quotes

Being human is a work in progress.

These human quotes take a reflective turn, covering our capacity to change and adapt, the elusive search for real satisfaction beyond consumption, and a candid look at why relationships often fall short of what we hope for. For more, see our Human Being quotes.

Upholding human rights is not merely compatible with fighting terrorism, it is essential.

Quotes by Joichi Ito

There's no statistical evidence that human beings have an ability to move in and out of the markets effectively. It's next to impossible.

Quotes by John W. Rogers, Jr.

I'm trying to get the terrorist out of the bugaboo category and into the category of a fellow human being.

Quotes by John Updike

I don't think Beethoven expresses religious truth. He expresses a human truth.

Quotes by John Tavener

It's self-centered to think that human beings, as limited as we are, can describe divinity.

Quotes by John Templeton

The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement.

Quotes by John Stuart Mill

It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being.

Quotes by John Stuart Mill

The fact is that proprietary databases don't work for such basic and broadly needed information as the sequence of the human genome.

Quotes by John Sulston

Science and the many benefits that science has produced have played a crucial part in our history and produced vast improvements to human welfare.

Quotes by John Sulston

Christianity is not about the divine becoming human so much as it is about the human becoming divine. That is a paradigm shift of the first order.

Quotes by John Shelby Spong

The way you become divine is to become wholly human.

Quotes by John Shelby Spong

Wars can be resolved. Human rights atrocities can be stopped. We just have to apply the right policies.

Quotes by John Prendergast

In human rights and peacemaking, it's really about having a solid concrete goal - the reduction of human suffering somewhere in the world - and then doing what is required to get that goal achieved.

Quotes by John Prendergast

Human dignity is better served by embracing knowledge.

Quotes by John Polanyi

Instead, in the absence of respect for human rights, science and its offspring technology have been used in this century as brutal instruments for oppression.

Quotes by John Polanyi

I think puns are not just the lowest form of wit, but the lowest form of human behavior.

Quotes by John Oliver

What we're going to do is try to get TSA out of the human resources and personnel business and into the security business to connect the dots.

Quotes by John Mica

You couldn't have human society without language.

Quotes by John Maynard Smith

America didn't invent human rights. Those rights are common to all people: nations, cultures, and religions cannot choose to simply opt out of them.

Quotes by John McCain

Compassion is contempt with a human face.

Quotes by John McCarthy

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a quote about seeking human honour and respect?
Yes, one quote expresses this as a kind of utopian wish: "Perhaps I seek certain utopian things, space for human honour and respect, landscapes not yet offended, planets that do not exist yet, dreamed landscapes." For more reflections on what it means to exist, see our Being quotes.
Is there a quote about human beings changing and growing over time?
Yes, one quote states: "As human beings we do change, grow, adapt, perhaps even learn and become wiser." For more directly on this theme, see our Human Being quotes.
Is there a quote about finding happiness outside of consumption?
Yes, one quote argues: "There are other ways of finding satisfaction, recipes for human happiness, enjoyment, dignified and meaningful, gratifying life, than increased consumption that increases production." For more on this idea, see our Life quotes.
Is there a quote about where human attention tends to focus in relationships?
Yes, one quote observes: "Human attention tends to be focused on the satisfactions relationships are hoped to bring, precisely because somehow they have not been truly satisfactory."
Where can I find more quotes about the human experience generally?
Our Always quotes offer more broad, timeless reflections that pair well with this theme.

Broader reflections on identity and existence continue on our Being and Life pages, both natural extensions of this theme.