"Undoubtedly a man is to labor to better his condition, but first to better himself."
by:
William Ellery Channing
(1780-1842) American Unitarian preacher
Rating:
Categories:
 
Bookmark and Share  
Reader comments about this quote:
Without time for reflection, man will be no different than sheep being tended by a wolf. What better way to put the mind to work than while working one's body.
 -- abby     
    		•  
    The fruits of hard work and honest labor include the building of character -- the kind of character is determined by the attitude and approach of the laborer.
     -- E Archer, NYC     
    		•  
    Stock corralled must be fed. Unless set to 'Free range'. Once a year set at liberty, to be corralled in the fall. Now tell us who cultivates the minds and to what purpose is the European mindset to a people of the Americas free to begin with, mingled with, cohabited with, Living Free with. Then to be corralled, persecuted, and reduced to an absurd life of servitude to 'the Statist theocracy that now infest this land.' (Borrowing from Mike, Norwalk, his statement of fact.) The quote is no more than common sense. Channing being very much a churl liberal. He smacks of ' one world order. ' As does the church denomination he is affiliated with. Unitarian universalist. Syncretic politics, the USA was not founded upon.
     -- Ronw13, Yachats Or     
    		•  
    The implied concept that labor is better when the order is 'self' then 'condition' can be very accurate as Archer has explained it. For most of my adult life, I have labored for the betterment of others first which hopefully made me a better man (which is not part of the stated concept). Considering both abby and Ron13's comments (both, very good) the stated comment does not cover the most positive of whom, when or in what order, 'labor' makes better.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
  • 1
    		•  
    With an honest recollection, a day before the court, in older years now, the absurdity catches up, let not a True Patriots life be in vain. That is innocent blood, that cries from the ground we walk on. Character is composed within the values we hold dear to the life of the agrarian, hunter, gatherer within us all. God bless. Mother keep my hands in the ground, the garden in times of my troubling. Bless her forever.
     -- Ronw13, Yachats Or     
    		•  
    Mike, you say, "I have labored for the betterment of others first," but so can say a servant or a slave. Assuming your labors are consensual, are you laboring to 'better the condition of others' or to 'their betterment'? To better oneself literally excludes being 'bettered by others' -- I can better your condition, but only you can better yourself. ;-)

    IMHO, because Mike has bettered himself first, he has bettered his condition and is thus able to labor for the "betterment of others" -- as it follows that the betterment of oneself betters the condition of one and ultimately all. ;-)
     -- E Archer, NYC     
    		•  
     
    Rate this quote!
    How many stars?
    0
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
     
    What do YOU think?
    Your name:
    		 Your town:
        CLICK JUST ONCE!

    Today's Quotes
    More Quotations
    Most Popular
    Recent Comments
    Get a Quote-A-Day! Free!
    Liberty Quotes sent to your mail box.
    RSS Subscribe
    Quotes & Quotations - Send This Quote to a Friend

    © 1998-2025 Liberty-Tree.ca