TOLERANCE
“When you hear a man say, “I hate,” adding the name of some race, nation, religion, or social class, you are dealing with a belated mind. That man may dress like a modern, ride in an automobile, listen over the radio, but his mind is properly dated about 1000 B.C.” Harry Emerson Fosdick
slow down and REFLECT
on the MEANING and the MESSAGE of today’s quotation
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IN YOUR OWN WORDS… what is the main idea or theme that is expressed in the above quote?
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” (Albert Einstein)
PERSONALIZE….
Do you have any personal experiences or observations that relate to the meaning of this quote? If so, describe a specific example.
“There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home.” (John Stuart Mill)
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ai Assistant
Interested in seeing what artificial intelligence (ai) has to say about the meaning of today’s quotation? Compare it to your own interpretation. You may be fascinated, or even possibly humbled.
ai INTERPRETATION of TODAY’S QUOTE
“When you hear a man say, “I hate,” adding the name of some race, nation, religion, or social class, you are dealing with a belated mind. That man may dress like a modern, ride in an automobile, listen over the radio, but his mind is properly dated about 1000 B.C.” Harry Emerson Fosdick
“That is a powerful and thought-provoking quote by Harry Emerson Fosdick.
He is drawing a sharp contrast between external modernity and internal maturity. A person may live in a technologically advanced world—driving cars, using media, appearing “modern”—yet still carry ancient patterns of thinking, especially when it comes to prejudice and hatred.
At its heart, the quote suggests:
- Hatred is primitive — It belongs to a less developed stage of human thinking.
- Progress is not just technological — True progress is measured by growth in understanding, tolerance, and compassion.
- Prejudice reflects stagnation — When someone defines others by race, religion, or class and responds with hate, they are not evolving with the moral possibilities of their time.
Fosdick’s phrase “a belated mind” is especially striking. It implies that while the world moves forward, some individuals remain mentally and morally out of date.
A simple way to restate his message might be:
“You can live in the modern world and still think like someone from a far less enlightened age.”
It’s a reminder—relevant even today—that real advancement lies not in what we use, but in how we think and how we treat others.” (chatGPT, 06/03/26)
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