The deepest quality of a work of art will always be the quality of the mind of the producer...No good novel will ever proceed from a superficial mind.
Henry JamesRead
Cats and monkeys; monkeys and cats; all human life is there.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that the essence of human life can be found in the behaviors and interactions of animals.
Henry James's quote encapsulates the idea that the complexity and variety of human existence can be reflected in the simpler, yet profound behaviors of animals, particularly cats and monkeys. By comparing these creatures with humans, the quote implies that our lives, filled with nuances, are interconnected with the instinctual and natural world, serving as a mirror to our own experiences and emotions.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a discussion about human nature and its connections to the animal kingdom.
The deepest quality of a work of art will always be the quality of the mind of the producer...No good novel will ever proceed from a superficial mind.
What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?
Never say you know the last word about any human heart.
I adore adverbs; they are the only qualifications I really much respect.
We care what happens to people only in proportion as we know what people are.
A swift carriage, of a dark night, rattling with four horses over roads that one can’t see--that’s my idea of happiness.
It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.
We build buildings based on the false assumption that women go to mosques half as much as they actually do. In fact, the US is the only country in the world where women and men report that they attend the mosque in equal numbers, but our institutions aren't representing this reality.
Das war ein vorspeil nur; That was only a prelude; dort wo man Buecher verbrennt, Where one burns books, vebrennt man auch am Ende One will also burn people Menchen. Eventually.
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.
God’s sovereign will is not at the whim and mercy of our person and individual responses to it.
We have in England a curious belief in first-rate people, meaning all the people we do not know; and this consoles us for the undeniable second-rateness of the people we do know.
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