Activism Quotes
Voltaire
OF THE PRINCIPLE OF ACTION
"Everything is in motion, everything acts and reacts, in nature.
Our sun turns on its axis with a rapidity that astonishes us; other
suns turn with the same speed, while countless swarms of planets
revolve round them in their orbits, and the blood circulates more
than twenty times an hour in the lowliest of our animals.
A straw that is borne on the wind tends naturally towards the centre
of the earth, just as the earth gravitates towards the sun, and the
sun towards the earth. The sea owes to the same laws its eternal
ebb and flow. In virtue of the same laws the vapours which form our
atmosphere rise continually from the earth, and fall again in dew,
rain, hail, snow, and thunder. Everything, even death, is active.
Corpses are decomposed, transformed into plants, and nourish the
living, which in their turn are the food of others. What is the
principle of this universal activity?"
Marcus Aurelius
Appendix
Ad Verum. imp., ii. I, s.fin.
'The army when you took it in hand was sunk in luxury and revelry, and
corrupted with long inactivity. At Antiochia the soldiers had been Wont
to applaud at the stage plays, knew more of the gardens at the nearest
restaurant than of the battlefield. Horses were hairy from lack of
grooming, horsemen smooth because their hairs had been pulled out by
the roots[39] a rare thing it was to see a soldier with hair on arm or
leg. Moreover, they were better drest than armed; so much so, that
Laelianus Pontius, a strict man of the old discipline, broke the
cuirasses of some of them with his finger-tips, and observed cushions
on the horses' backs. At his direction the tufts were cut through, and
out of the horsemen's saddles came what appeared to be feathers pluckt
from geese. Few of the men could vault on horseback, the rest clambered
up with difficulty by aid of heel and knee and leg not many could throw
a lance hurtling, most did it without force or power, as though they
were things of wool-dicing was common in the camp, sleep lasted all
night, or if they kept watch it was over the winecup. By what
regulations to restrain such soldiers as these, and to turn them to
honesty and industry, did you not learn from Hannibal's sternness, the
discipline of Africanus, the acts of Metellus recorded in history."
Julius Caesar
THE CIVIL WAR
BOOK VII
"a man of very great
influence and extensive connections. His brother Valetiacus had borne
the same office during the last year: that the whole state was up in
arms; the senate divided, the people divided; that each of them had his
own adherents; and that, if the animosity would be fomented any longer
the result would be that one part of the state would come to a collision
with the other; that it rested with his activity and influence to
prevent it."
THE WAR IN GAUL
BOOK VII
"Many thousands being taken, as many of the Bituriges as
were able to escape the first coming of the Romans, fled to the
neighbouring states, relying either on private friendship, or public
alliance. In vain; for Caesar, by hasty marches, anticipated them in
every place, nor did he allow any state leisure to consider the safety
of others, in preference to their own. By this activity, he both
retained his friends in their loyalty, and by fear, obliged the wavering
to accept offers of peace."
Book of Genesis
"47:5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy
brethren are come unto thee: 47:6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in
the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the
land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity
among them, then make them rulers over my cattle."
Oral Law of Israelites
Yoma, fol. 9, col. 1.
Before a priest could be admitted into active service in the Temple he
had to undergo bodily inspection at the hands of the syndicate of the
Sanhedrin. If they found the least defect in his body, even a mole with
hair upon it, he was ordered to dress in black and be dismissed; but if
he was perfectly free from blemish, he was arrayed in white, and at once
introduced to his brother priests and official duties.
RABBINICAL ANA
Rabbi Jochanan said that it is as pleasing in God's sight if we are kind
and hospitable to strangers, as if we rise up early to study His law;
because the former is in fact putting His law into practice. He also
said, "He who is active in kindness toward his fellows is forgiven his
sins."
Both this Rabbi and Abba say it is better to lend to the poor than to
give to them, for it prevents them from feeling ashamed of their
poverty, and is really a more charitable manner of aiding them. The
Rabbis have always taught that kindness is more than the mere almsgiving
of charity, for it includes pleasant words with the more substantial
help.