Aphorisms — English

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Humanity

1940

More than machinery, we need humanity

We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

Ubuntu

The belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.
Source: Ubuntu Documentation Team, retrieved 2017.

August 2007

From humiliation to peace

Of all that threatens peace in our world, one of the strongest weapons of destruction is humiliation. It causes great pain and a sense of alienation and marginalisation. It crushes people's dignity and leads to despair. Persistent humiliation and injustice drives individuals, militant groups and nations to respond with violence, to kill and mutilate.

1949

We cannot despair of ourselves

We cannot despair of humanity since we are ourselves human beings.

2011

Genocide and cultural ethnocide

Genocide is preceded by cultural ethnocide, or the gradual and deliberate erosion and manipulation of cultural values and practices by political authorities. The dissolution of this cultural foundation (...) makes people incapable of protecting themselves and their communities from the descent into the abyss of mass atrocities; it allows them to be manipulated to commit execrable acts counter to their own time-tested values and traditions.