The Third Leaf: Mercy, Justice, and Humility

O son of man! If thine eyes be turned towards mercy, forsake the things that profit thee and cleave unto that which will profit mankind. And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself. Humility exalteth man to the heaven of glory and power, whilst pride abaseth him to the depths of wretchedness and degradation.

Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 64

This is man’s uttermost wretchedness...

And this is man’s uttermost wretchedness: that he should live inert, apathetic, dull, involved only with his own base appetites. When he is thus, he has his being in the deepest ignorance and savagery, sinking lower than the brute beasts.

'Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 3