Detestation of the high is the involuntary homage of the low.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that those who are in lower positions often pay respect to those who are in higher positions, not by choice but by necessity.
Charles Dickens highlights the inherent social dynamics in which people of lower status tend to show reverence or respect towards those of higher status. This detestation, or dislike, reflects the complex relationship between social classes, suggesting that while the low might resent the high, they are compelled to acknowledge their existence and authority, demonstrating a paradox of social structures.
In practice
During a public lecture on social justice, this quote can be used to illustrate the complexities of class relationships.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
Solemnity is proper in church, but things that are proper in church are not necessarily proper outside, and vice versa. For example, I can say a prayer while washing my teeth, but that does not mean I should wash my teeth in church.
It 's no fish ye 're buying, it 's men's lives.
There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within.
Now is the time for Afro-realism: for sound policies based on honest data, aimed at delivering results.
There must be some kind of way out of here,' said the joker to the thief.
For when God forbids us to kill, he not only prohibits us from open violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but he warns us against the commission of those beings which are esteemed lawful among men....Therefore, with regard to this precept of God, there ought to be no exception at all, but that it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be a sacred animal.
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