The Human Comedy1943

Miss Hicks:
[to Homer Macauley and Hubert Ackley, whom she detained after class] You'll both learn that every man in the world is better than somebody else. And not as good as somebody else. In a democratic state every man is equal to every other man up to the point of exertion. And then every man is free to exert himself to do good or not. To grow nobly, or foolishly. I'm eager for my boys and girls to exert themselves to do good and grow nobly. I want you to understand that each of you will begin to be real men and truly human when in spite of your differences with one another you still respect one another. That's what it means to be civilized.