The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist. – T.H. Huxley, “Evolution and Ethics,” 1893

I do not value any view of the universe into which man and the institutions of man enter very largely and absorb much of the attention. Man is but the place where I stand, and the prospect hence is infinite. – Henry David Thoreau, journal, 1852 April 2nd

Every man is a volume, if you know how to read him. – William Ellery Channing, “Charge for the Ordination of Rev. Robert C. Waterston”