The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
James JoyceRead
Beware the horns of a bull, the heels of the horse, and the smile of an Englishman.
Interpretation
This quote warns about the deceptive nature of appearances and the potential hidden dangers behind them.
James Joyce's quote cautions individuals to be wary of superficial impressions that may mask underlying threats. The imagery of a bull's horns and a horse's heels suggests that even seemingly benign or pleasant entities can possess great danger, while the 'smile of an Englishman' implies that charm or friendliness might conceal a more insidious intent. The quote serves as a reminder to approach situations and relationships with both cautiousness and discernment.
In practice
In a discussion about trust and appearances, this quote could illustrate the need for skepticism.
The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
I think a child should be allowed to take his father's or mother's name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.
If he had smiled why would he have smiled? To reflect that each one who enters imagines himself to be the first to enter whereas he is always the last term of a preceding series even if the first term of a succeeding one, each imagining himself to be first, last, only and alone whereas he is neither first nor last nor only nor alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity.
Gentle lady, do not sing Sad songs about the end of love; Lay aside sadness and sing How love that passes is enough. Sing about the long deep sleep Of lovers that are dead, and how In the grave all love shall sleep: Love is aweary now.
I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.
The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant's heart on the hillside.
It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.
The tragedy of a species becoming unfit for life by over-evolving one ability is not confined to humankind. Thus it is thought, for instance, that certain deer in paleontological times succumbed as they acquired overly-heavy horns. The mutations must be considered blind, they work, are thrown forth, without any contact of interest with their environment. In depressive states, the mind may be seen in the image of such an antler, in all its fantastic splendour pinning its bearer to the ground.
I've learned that you don't need a lot in life. If it can't fit into a suitcase, you don't really need it.
Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.
...We try to have things both ways. Weβve always refused to live by the book and the rule; but then why start worrying because the world doesnβt treat us by rule?
Because neither she nor Port had ever lived a life of any kind of regularity, they had both made the fatal error of coming hazily to regard time as non-existent. One year was like another year. Eventually everything would happen.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.