International Affairs - Rome, Lazio, Italy
I believe in Association (read cooperation) as the only means we have of achieving progress, not only because it multiplies the action of the productive forces, but because it brings together all the different manifestations of the human soul and ensures that the life of the individual has communion with the life of the collective; and I know that Association can only be fruitful if it exists between free individuals, between free nations, capable of consciousness of their mission. I believe that man must eat and live and not have all the hours of his existence absorbed by material work in order to have the field to develop the higher faculties that are in him; but I turn a terrified ear to the voices that say to men "to eat is your aim: to enjoy is your right", because I know that that word can only create selfishness, and it was in France, and elsewhere, and is unfortunately beginning to be in Italy, the condemnation of every noble idea, of every martyrdom, of every pledge of future greatness. "What takes away the life of Humanity today is the lack of a common faith, of a thought adopted by all that reunites Earth and Heaven, Universe and God. Deprived of such a faith, man has prostrated himself in front of the dead matter, and has remained a worshipper of the idol "Interest". And the first priests of that fatal cult were the kings, princes and sad governments of today. They invented the horrible formula: "each for himself": they knew that with it, they would create selfishness: and they knew that between the selfish and the slave there is only one step." Giuseppe Mazzini "The Duties of Man" 1861
Apache
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