Literary quote about humans sinking to their lowest level - like water sinks to its lowest level?

Answer 1

First of all, it is not so certain that water sinks, not even certain that it floats. If the density of one part of water is denser than the other part, then of course, the denser water would sink. Humanity, on the other hand, has a long and varied history of sinking to it's lowest level. Here are some literary quotes, and some not so literary on individuals who have sunk so low:

"In the annals of British ignominy, no prime minister has sunk so low as Mr. Blair."

Andreas Whitman Smith

"But we may justly wonder that the Church of Christ, which professes to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, should be sunk so low, and manifest so little of the life and power of vital godliness."

J.C. Philpot

"We are a sad remnant of a separate seeded race that has sunk so low that even soul does not inhabit some humans."

Linda Johnson

"Taking the newspapers for our guide, we should say that marriage as a legal bond had sunk so low in men's esteem as to have become the appanage of the baser classes exclusively; that no one any longer really identifies himself with the outer covenant but some sordid ruffian, steeped in debauchery, whose lust of blood finds an easy victim in his unprotected wife, or some fancied paramour of his wife."

Henry James

"But this revelation must be wholly in accordance with man's moral nature. It is only possible, as a fact in the sense-world, when a man or Humanity has sunk so low that the moral laws given by pure reason have entirely lost their influence."

J.A. Leighton

"Mind, I do not say that we are right in calling any human being a brute, for no one, I believe, is sunk so low but there is some spark of humanity, some spark of what St. Paul calls "the spirit," left in him, which may be fanned into a flame and conquer, and raise and save the man at last--unless he be a mere idiot--or that most unhappy and brutal of all beings, a confirmed drunkard."

Charles Kingsley

"Few believe that humanity has sunk so low as it has or that it is so thoroughly bad, so desperately opposed to God, as it is..."

Ellen Gould Harmon White

"The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk so low but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses."

Robert Ardrey