Scopes isn’t on trial; civilization is on trial.
To know all is to understand all, and this leaves no room for judgement and condemnation.
I am pleading for the future; I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men. When we can learn by, reason and judgment and understanding and faith that all life is worth saving, and that mercy is the highest attribute of man.
The fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the death of wisdom. Skepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom.
The purpose of man is like the purpose of a pollywog – to wiggle along as far as he can without dying; or, to hang to life until death takes him.
Working people have alot of bad habits, but the worst of these is work.
Calvin Coolidge was the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth Corner, Vermont.
Depressions may bring people closer to the church but so do funerals.
I don’t like spinach, and I’m glad I don’t, because if I liked it I’d eat it, and I just hate it.
The world is made up for the most part of morons and natural tyrants, sure of themselves, strong in their own opinions, never doubting anything.
The first half of our lives are ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.
The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery.
Everybody is a potential murderer. I’ve never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.
You can’t get to a pleasant place to be at unless you use pleasant methods to get there. When you are dealing with a human society the means is fully as important as the end.
I had a vivid imagination. Not only could I put myself in the other person’s place, but I could not avoid doing so. My sympathies always went out to the weak, the suffering, and the poor. Realizing their sorrows I tried to relieve them in order that I myself might be relieved.
I am simply an agnostic. I haven’t yet had time or opportunity to explore the universe, and I don’t know what I might run on to in some nook or corner.
Whenever I hear people discussing birth control, I always remember that I was fifth.
Life is a never-ending school, and the really important lessons all tend to teach humanity our proper relation to the environment where we must live.
In order to have enough freedom, it is necessary to have too much.
The time will come when all people will view with horror light way in which society and its courts of law now take human life; and when that time comes, the way will be clear to device some better method of dealing with poverty and ignorance and their frequent byproducts, which we call crime.
Every thought of pity is like the balm of Gilead to our souls.