Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
Can anything be more disgusting than to hear people called 'educated' making small jokes about eating ham, and showing themselves empty of any real knowledge as to the relation of their own social and religious life to the history of the people they think themselves witty in insulting? [...] The best thing that can be said of it is, that it is a sign of the intellectual narrowness—in plain English, the stupidity which is still the average mark of our culture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the superficiality of educated individuals who make light of serious matters without understanding their historical significance.
George Eliot emphasizes the dangers of a superficial education that lacks depth and understanding. She points out that those who mock others, particularly in relation to cultural and historical contexts, reveal their own ignorance and intellectual narrowness. By equating humor with a lack of genuine knowledge, Eliot underscores the importance of being informed and considerate in discourse, especially regarding social and religious issues.
Themes
EducationKnowledgeIntellectualismHumorStupidity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of critical thinking in education.
More from George Eliot
All quotes →You must love your work, and not be always looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work, and think it would be more honorable to you to be doing something else. You must have a pride in your own work and in learning to do it well.
George EliotRead
She thought it was part of the hardship of her life that there was laid upon her the burthen of larger wants than others seemed to feel – that she had to endure this wide hopeless yearning for that something, whatever it was, that was greatest and best on this earth.
George EliotRead
Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.
George EliotRead
I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.
George EliotRead
Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them: they can be injured by us, they can be wounded; they know all our penitence, all our aching sense that their place is empty, all the kisses we bestow on the smallest relic of their presence.
George EliotRead
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