“While we maintain the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the depressing assumption of superior and inferior races of men. There are nations more susceptible of cultivation, more highly civilized, more enobled by mental cultivation than others, but none in themselves nobler than others. All are in like degree designed for freedom; a freedom which, in the ruder conditions of society, belongs only to the individual, but which, in social states enjoying political institutions, appertains as a right to the whole body of the community.”
“Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take away with us.”
Alexander von Humboldt
“Devoted from my earliest youth to the study of nature, feeling with enthusiasm the wild beauties of a country guarded by mountains and shaded by ancient forests, I experienced in my travels, enjoyment...”
Alexander von Humboldt
“One of the noblest characteristics which distinguish modern civilization from that of remoter times is, that it has enlarged the mass of our conceptions, rendered us more capable of perceiving the con...”
Alexander von Humboldt
“The expression of vanity and self-love becomes less offensive, when it retains something of simplicity and frankness.”
Alexander von Humboldt
“Our imagination is struck only by what is great; but the lover of natural philosophy should reflect equally on little things.”
Alexander von Humboldt