Inhumanity Quotes

“From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.”
― Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

“There were a lot of gods. Gods always come in handy, they justify almost anything.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

“I am constantly amazed by man's inhumanity to man.”
― Primo Levi, If This Is a Man / The Truce

“Inhumanity, n. One of the signal and characteristic qualities of humanity.”
― Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

“Traumatic events destroy the sustaining bonds between individual and community. Those who have survived learn that their sense of self, of worth, of humanity, depends upon a feeling of connection with others. The solidarity of a group provides the strongest protection against terror and despair, and the strongest antidote to traumatic experience. Trauma isolates; the group re-creates a sense of belonging. Trauma shames and stigmatizes; the group bears witness and affirms. Trauma degrades the victim; the group exalts her. Trauma dehumanizes the victim; the group restores her humanity.
Repeatedly in the testimony of survivors there comes a moment when a sense of connection is restored by another person’s unaffected display of generosity. Something in herself that the victim believes to be irretrievably destroyed---faith, decency, courage---is reawakened by an example of common altruism. Mirrored in the actions of others, the survivor recognizes and reclaims a lost part of herself. At that moment, the survivor begins to rejoin the human commonality...”
― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

“Wild animals are less wild and more human than many humans of this world”
― Munia Khan

“There is only one way in which one can endure man's inhumanity to man and that is to try, in one's own life, to exemplify man's humanity to man.”
― Alan Paton

“There's a big difference on being wise and being crafty. The former is the attribute of God, and the latter is that of Satan.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“Inhumanity is the keynote of stupidity in power.”
― Alexander Berkman, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist

“Brother raises a hand against brother and son against father (how terrible!) and the father also against son. And moreover it is a continuity-matter, for if the father did not strike the son, they would not be alike. It is done to perpetuate similarity. Oh, Henderson, man cannot keep still under the blows.... A hit B? B hit C?--we have not enough alphabet to cover the condition. A brave man will try to make the evil stop with him. He shall keep the blow. No man shall get it from him, and that is a sublime ambition.”
― Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King

“A little inhumanity does not describe you as heartless, rather, it is a way of telling others that you have a heart that can get angry.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“No nation has the right to revenge itself or rush to eliminate people just because they cause society anxiety. They should be healed instead of given such inhuman punishment.”
― Henri Charrière, Papillon

“All you had to do was crack up and beg to see the Governor; grovel at his feet and admit to being a dissident; heartily repent your sins, and volunteer for elective brain surgery.”
― H.M. Forester, The Dissidents

“Their methods were especially crude and most of these former friends were now born again model citizens; lobotomized; or burnt out shells.”
― H.M. Forester, The Dissidents

“When we stop seeing each other’s humanity, we become inhuman.”
― Liza M. Wiemer

“Ah those people", said Father, nodding his head smiling slightly. "Those people...well, they are not people at all, Bruno".”
― John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

“You cannot do the right thing till you know what you've been doing wrong - you cannot be human till you know what's inhuman.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“Himalayan Sonneteer Sonnet 3

What is the role of an electrical fuse?
Amateurs will say, conducting electricity.
But the actual task of a fuse is,
To blow itself when the load is too heavy.

Thus the fuse protects the appliance,
Against any electrical irregularity.
Likewise, we gotta blow our fuse,
Whenever inhumanity hangs heavy.

If we stay silent in indifference,
What's the point of all this electricity!
Nerves that carry not vigor but ice water,
Ain't no human nerves but sewers of society.

Human nerves are the life-circuit of society.
If they carry ice water, it is a catastrophe.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“What is the role of an electrical fuse?
Amateurs will say, conducting electricity.
But the actual task of a fuse is,
To blow itself when the load is too heavy.

Thus the fuse protects the appliance,
Against any electrical irregularity.
Likewise, we gotta blow our fuse,
Whenever inhumanity hangs heavy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Schnellfeuer": Die Menschen versuchen einander zuweilen etwas zuzurufen. Nach kurzem ist jeder Versuch verstummt. Bricht der Versuch neu auf, wird aus jedem Zuruf ein tierischer Schrei.
"Schnellfeuer": Die Wut der Menschen überträgt sich auf die Geschütze. Sechs metallene kalte Rohre geben mit Sachlichkeit sechsmal in sechzig Sekunden den Tod von sich.”
― Edlef Köppen, Heeresbericht

“What is wrong with these people?’ said Solomon, as they walked through the streets. ‘What has happened to humanity?’

‘It’s getting worse and worse,’ said Zadie. ‘When they look at you, they don’t see who you are, or what you’re doing. They just see that you’re different.”
― S.F. Said, Tyger

“Sanity begins with insanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Find A Cause Outside Yourself: Sermon of Sustainability

“My world is my responsibility. Beware my dear bigots, I'm injurious to inhumanity!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Ingan Impossible: Handbook of Hatebusting

“Infantilism, the main characteristic of today's "developed societies", animalizes man by humanizing animals, enslaves man by "liberating" nature and stupefies man by intellectualizing machines. In a word, infantilism demeans man by exalting everything that is inhuman.”
― Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski

“Two enclosures, one for cattle and one for men, standing side by side. Sometimes the smell is familiar. Only the voices on one side and the mooing on the other distinguish the men from the ruminants.”
― Ana Paula Maia, Of Cattle and Men

“Trauma tried to tell me that I was not human and that I should be excluded from humanity.”
― Carolyn Spring

“You never forget the moment folks chose to be inhumane.”
― Darnell Lamont Walker

“When we draw a line in the sand, standing firmly upon this side or that side, we limit ourselves from experiencing the whole of humanity, which is inhumane.”
― Deanna L. Lawlis

“Let not the daily and unending horrors of this world blind you to the loving human that you ought to be.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, These Words Burn Like Fire

“I just wish we could go back to when everybody was happy."

"When was everybody happy? What time was that? Did I miss getting on that train?" He leaned a bit into her space. "No one was happy, Sidney. We were just a bunch of people getting on with it, living our lives with monsters on our backs. No, nobody was happy, and nobody told the truth."

"What was the truth?"

"That the world wasn't ever equal. And the white folks who made it that way--the ones who fought, silent and spitting, to keep it that way--refused all responsibility for what it meant. You can't imagine the inhumanity, horrors on top of horrors. People shot in the streets, in their homes, at grocery stores, so much that after a while some white folks just kind of shrugged. No one was fighting for our bodies. And it went on like that for so long I think we all started to believe that was just the way life was supposed to be. Trust me when I tell you, I've been black all over the world and I always knew what that meant. Not welcomed anywhere, and yet there ain't nowhere else to go. Damn, what a storm in the mind.”
― Cebo Campbell, Sky Full of Elephants