Quote by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: “Thou shalt have power to degenerate into the lower forms of life.”

Pico della Mirandola highlights humanity's unique capacity for self-determination, which includes the freedom to choose degradation or elevation. It underscores that humans are not fixed but can descend to animalistic levels if they fail to cultivate their higher faculties.

Pico's 'Oration' presented a universe where humans occupied a central, yet unfixed, position. He posited that the power of free will carried the profound responsibility of choosing one's own moral and intellectual trajectory.

Italian Renaissance philosopher best known for his Oration on the Dignity of Man, written in 1486 as a preface to his nine hundred theses and often called the manifesto of the Renaissance. He synthesised classical philosophy, Christian theology, and Jewish Kabbalah in a bold vision of human potential.