Ibsen's human revolution

“We have been living on crumbs dropped from the revolutionary table of the preceding century.  They have been chewed far too long.  Thought requires new nourishment and stimulus.  Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité no longer mean what they meant in the age of the guillotine.  Bullheaded politicians make no effort to understand this.  That is why I hate them.  All they want is a political revolution, a particular revolution superficial in all things.  Such a revolution is absurd.  The important thing is renovation of the human spirit” (Henrik Ibsen wrote in a personal letter, taken from Choose Peace: A Dialogue Between Johan Galtung and Daisku Ikeda, 1995, pg 11).

Philosophers from the masses

“The truly great members of the masses of humanity are the people who labor not in the spotlight, but behind the scenes. I am most comfortable and can work most untiringly in the company of philosophers from the masses” (Daisaku Ikeda, Choose Peace: A Dialogue Between Johan Galtung and Daisku Ikeda, 1995, pg 6).

Good servant, but bad master

"It used to be said of fire, the first of the technological weapons, that it was a good servant but a bad master. The same holds true for the newer weapons of technology". (James Lovelock, Gaia: A new look at life on earth, 1979, pg 115).