Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
To make a deliberate falsification for personal gain is the last, worst depth to which either scholar or artist can descend in work or life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the moral downfall of intentionally deceiving others for personal benefit, whether in academia or art.
Dorothy L. Sayers highlights the ethical implications of deceit, suggesting that knowingly fabricating information or art for selfish reasons represents the lowest point of integrity for both scholars and artists. This notion underscores the importance of honesty and authenticity in one's work and life, marking sabotaging one's credibility as a profound moral failure.
Themes
DeceitIntegrityHonestyArtScholarship
In practice
Example use cases
In an art critique, this quote could remind artists to stay true to their vision without resorting to dishonesty.
More from Dorothy L. Sayers
All quotes →But suppose one doesn't quite know which one wants to put first. Suppose," said Harriet, falling back on words which were not her own, "suppose one is cursed with both a heart and a brain?" "You can usually tell," said Miss de Vine, "by seeing what kind of mistakes you make. I'm quite sure that one never makes fundamental mistakes about the thing one really wants to do. Fundamental mistakes arise out of lack of genuine interest. In my opinion, that is.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
. . . the fellow's got a bee in his bonnet. Thinks God's a secretion of the liver--all right once in a way, but there's no need to keep on about it. There's nothing you can't prove if your outlook is only sufficiently limited.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
You're thinking that people don't keep up old jealousies for twenty years or so. Perhaps not. Not just primitive, brute jealousy. That means a word and a blow. But the thing that rankles is hurt vanity. That sticks. Humiliation. And we've all got a sore spot we don't like to have touched.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
None of us feels the true love of God till we realize how wicked we are. But you can't teach people that - they have to learn by experience.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
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