Quote#Science & Reason
Among the forces which sweep and play throughout the universe,…
Quote byTheodore Dreiser · 1871–1945
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Sister Carrie (1900), Ch. 8 : Intimations By Winter: An Ambassador Summoned.
English (original)
Among the forces which sweep and play throughout the universe, untutored man is but a wisp in the wind. Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason.
— Theodore Dreiser
More from Theodore Dreiser
If I were personally to define religion, I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circumstance.
A man, a real man, must never be an agent, a tool, or a gambler—acting for himself or for others—he must employ such. A real man—a financier—was never a tool. He used tools. He created. He led.
I acknowledge the Furies. I believe in them. I have heard the disastrous beating of their wings.
Oh, the moon is fair tonight along the Wabash, From the fields there comes the breath of new-mown hay; Through the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming On the banks of the Wabash, far away.
Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail.
The most futile thing in this world is any attempt, perhaps, at exact definition of character. All individuals are a bundle of contradictions—none more so than the most capable.