To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Armaments, universal debt and planned obsolescence - those are the three pillars of Western prosperity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Huxley critiques the foundations of Western society, emphasizing the reliance on militarization, debt, and short-lived products.
In this quote, Aldous Huxley highlights three critical components that he believes underpin the prosperity of Western civilizations: armaments, which reflect a focus on military power; universal debt, which suggests an unsustainable economic model; and planned obsolescence, a strategy in consumerism that promotes continuous consumption through the design of products meant to have a limited lifespan. Together, these elements create a system that drives wealth but may also lead to moral and social consequences.
Themes
ProsperityDebtArmamentsConsumerismObsolescence
In practice
Example use cases
When discussing economic issues in a public forum, this quote serves as a poignant critique of capitalism.
More from Aldous Huxley
All quotes βFacts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous HuxleyRead
In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.
Aldous HuxleyRead
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous HuxleyRead
No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Similar quotes
It is the main earthly business of a human being to make his home, and the immediate surroundings of his home, as symbolic and significant to his own imagination as he can.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
We are built to live in the kingdom of God. It is our natural habitat.
Dallas WillardRead
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.
William Butler YeatsRead
Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.... The subjection of individuals will increase amongst democratic nations, not only in the same proportion as their equality, but in the same proportion as their ignorance.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
Every physicist knows that things connect with each other. To isolate things is not the way the universe works - winning best actor is arbitrary.
Alan ArkinRead