We must beware the revenge of the starved senses, the embittered animal in its prison.
J. B. PriestleyRead
Living in an age of advertisement, we are perpetually disillusioned. The perfect life is spread before us every day, but it changes and withers at a touch.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the superficiality of advertising and its impact on our perceptions of life.
J. B. Priestley highlights the deceptive nature of advertisements that portray an idealized version of life, leading to feelings of disillusionment. He suggests that while these advertisements present a perfect image, they are inherently temporary and fragile, hinting at the underlying dissatisfaction they can create in our everyday lives.
Themes
AdvertisementDisillusionmentPerceptionSuperficialityIdealism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect for a discussion on consumerism in a marketing class.
More from J. B. Priestley
All quotes βBut some of us are beginning to pull well away, in our irritation, from...the exquisite tasters, the vintage snobs, the three-star Michelin gourmets. There is, we feel, a decent area somewhere between boiled carrots and Beluga caviare, sour plonk and Chateau Lafitte, where we can take care of our gullets and bellies without worshipping them.
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A novelist who writes nothing for 10 years finds his reputation rising. Because I keep on producing books they say there must be something wrong with this fellow.
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Much of writing might be described as mental pregnancy with successive difficult deliveries.
J. B. PriestleyRead
There is romance, the genuine glinting stuff, in typewriters, and not merely in their development from clumsy giants into agile dwarfs, but in the history of their manufacture, which is filled with raids, battles, lonely pioneers, great gambles, hope, fear, despair, triumph. If some of our novels could be written by the typewriters instead of on them, how much better they would be.
J. B. PriestleyRead
We plan, we toil, we suffer - in the hope of what? A camel-load of idol's eyes? The title deeds of Radio City? The empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs.
J. B. PriestleyRead
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