To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Abuse becomes more harmful as people become desensitized to it.
In this quote, Harriet Beecher Stowe draws a parallel between the effects of physical abuse and the use of laudanum, a type of opiate. She suggests that as individuals endure more abuse, their emotional sensitivity decreases, requiring an even greater level of harsh treatment to elicit a response, indicating a damaging cycle of violence that ultimately numbs both the abuser and the victim.
Themes
AbuseViolenceSensibilityLaudanumDesensitization
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the impact of abuse in society.
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