Gradually I came to realize that people will more readily swallow lies than truth, as if the taste of lies was homey, appetizing: a habit.
Martha GellhornRead
Citizenship is a tough occupation which obliges the citizen to make his own informed opinion and stand by it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Citizenship requires active engagement and responsibility in forming and sharing personal opinions.
This quote emphasizes the responsibility of individuals in a democracy to not only have their own informed opinions but also to stand firm in them. It suggests that being a citizen is not a passive role; rather, it involves critical thinking and commitment to one's beliefs, which are essential in influencing society and governance.
Themes
CitizenshipResponsibilityOpinionDemocracyEngagement
In practice
Example use cases
During a citizenship class, I quoted, 'Citizenship is a tough occupation...' to highlight the importance of informed opinions.
More from Martha Gellhorn
All quotes βIt would be a bitter cosmic joke if we destroy ourselves due to atrophy of the imagination.
Martha GellhornRead
the ends never justify the means because IT never ends.
Martha GellhornRead
I followed the war wherever I could reach it.
Martha GellhornRead
Thousand got away to other countries; thousands returned to Spain tempted by false promises of kindness. By the tens of thousands, these Spaniards died of neglect in the concentration camps.
Martha GellhornRead
By its existence, the Peace Movement denies that governments know best; it stands for a different order of priorities: the human race comes first.
Martha GellhornRead
Similar quotes
We are not called to proclaim philosophy and metaphysics, but the simple gospel. Man's fall, his need of a new birth, forgiveness through atonement, and salvation as the result of faith, these are our battle-ax and weapons of war.
Charles SpurgeonRead
Closure is a neurotic and infantile demand to make upon reality, other people, or language.
Terence MckennaRead
Each of us has interests which conflict the interests of everybody else... 'everybody else' we call 'society'. It's a powerful opponent and it always wins. Oh, here and there an individual prevails for a while and gets what he wants. Sometimes he storms the culture of a society and changes it to his own advantage. But society wins in the long run, for it has the advantage of numbers and of age.
B. F. SkinnerRead
The God who existed before any religion counts on you to make the oneness of the human family known and celebrated.
Desmond TutuRead
We are the makers of our own lives. There is no such thing as fate. Our lives are the result of our previous actions, our karma, and it naturally flows that, having been ourselves the makers of our karma, we must also be able to unmake it.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Just as a tree without roots is dead, a people without history or cultural roots also becomes a dead people.
Malcolm XRead