As nature has uncovered from under this hard shell the seed for which she most tenderly cares - the propensity and vocation to free thinking - this gradually works back upon the character of the people, who thereby gradually become capable of managing freedom; finally, it affects the principles of government, which finds it to its advantage to treat men, who are now more than machines, in accordance with their dignity. Immanuel Kant
About This Quote

The quote above expresses the idea that people are born with a "seed for freedom" in their hearts, but that it must be nurtured and cultivated by society to allow this seed to grow into full-fledged freedom. This quote discusses the importance of educating people so that they gain the ability to make rational decisions. By allowing them to make decisions based on their own reasoning, society will be able to make more rational decisions itself. This is especially important when it comes to governing. The quote also addresses the idea that individual freedom cannot be taken for granted, but must be fought for every day until it is considered normal and inevitable.

Source: An Answer To The Question: What Is Enlightenment?

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More Quotes By Immanuel Kant
  1. One who makes himself a worm cannot complain afterwards if people step on him.
  2. Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
  3. Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it...
  4. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.
  5. An age cannot bind itself and ordain to put the succeeding one into such a condition that it cannot extend its (at best very occasional) knowledge , purify itself of errors, and progress in general enlightenment. That would be a crime against human nature, the...
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