Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Alexander PopeRead
Atheists put on false courage and alacrity in the midst of their darkness and apprehensions, like children who, when they fear to go in the dark, will sing for fear.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that atheists may mask their fears and uncertainties with a facade of bravery, similar to how children sing to comfort themselves in the dark.
In this quote, Alexander Pope uses the metaphor of children singing to assert that atheists, while facing their own existential fears and doubts in a world perceived as dark, often project a semblance of confidence and cheerfulness. This comparison highlights the human tendency to cope with fear through bravado, demonstrating that even those who reject faith may experience a struggle with apprehension and uncertainty about life and existence.
Themes
CourageFearDarknessAtheismBravery
In practice
Example use cases
A discussion on coping mechanisms during a theology class.
More from Alexander Pope
All quotes βWhat dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things.
Alexander PopeRead
Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare; And beauty draws us with a single hair.
Alexander PopeRead
An honest man's the noblest work of God.
Alexander PopeRead
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight;_x000D_ _x000D_ Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight.
Alexander PopeRead
Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
Alexander PopeRead
Similar quotes
The feeling about a soldier is, when all is said and done, he wasn't really going to do very much with his life anyway. The example usually is: he wasn't going to compose Beethoven's Fifth.
Kurt VonnegutRead
We adore chaos because we love to produce order.
M. C. EscherRead
Life, like a child, laughs, shaking its rattle of death as it runs.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
Superhero science has taught me this: Entire universes fit comfortably inside our skulls. Not just one or two but endless universes can be packed into that dark, wet, and bony hollow without breaking it open from the inside. The space in our heads will stretch to accommodate them all. The real doorway to the fifth dimension was always right here. Inside. That infinite interior space contains all the divine, the alien, and the unworldly weβll ever need.
Grant MorrisonRead
We must be free for the truth; and conversely, to be able to be open toward the truth may be our deepest freedom as human creatures.
William BarrettRead
It will be necessary for us Indians - Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Parsis and all others to whom India is their home - to recognize a common flag to live and die for.
Mahatma GandhiRead