We have a disharmony in our natures. We cannot live together without injuring each other.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the inherent conflict in human nature and the inevitability of harm in relationships.
William Golding's quote highlights the fundamental discord that exists within human beings, suggesting that our coexistence is marked by the tendency to cause injury to one another. It speaks to the darker aspects of human relationships, emphasizing that even in our attempts to live together peacefully, there is an underlying conflict that results in harm. This disharmony suggests that true unity may be an elusive goal due to our intrinsic nature.
In practice
In a discussion about human relationships, this quote can emphasize the struggles we face in maintaining harmony.
Consider a man riding a bicycle. Whoever he is, we can say three things about him. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. Most important of all, we know that if at any point between the beginning and the end of his journey he stops moving and does not get off the bicycle he will fall off it. That is a metaphor for the journey through life of any living thing, and I think of any society of living things.
The skull regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers and won't tell.
Maybe, he said hesitantly, maybe there is a beast. The assembly cried out savagely and Ralph stood up in amazement. You, Simon? You believe in this? I don't know, said Simon. His heartbeats were choking him. [...] Ralph shouted. Hear him! He's got the conch! What I mean is . . . maybe it's only us. Nuts! That was from Piggy, shocked out of decorum.
The mask was a thing on it's own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-conciousness.
Man produces evil as a bee produces honey.
Utopias are presented for our inspection as a critique of the human state.
So, two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism.
Vonnegut could not help looking back, despite the danger of being turned metaphorically into a pillar of salt, into am emblem of the death that comes to those who cannot let go of the past
Mr. Gandhi, you have been working fifteen hours a day for fifty years. Don't you think you should take a vacation?" Gandhi smiled and replied, "I am always on vacation.
Dean's California--wild, sweaty, important, the land of lonely and exiled and eccentric lovers come to forgather like birds, and the land where everybody somehow looked like broken-down, handsome, decadent movie actors.
Unless I understand the Cross, I cannot understand why my commitment to what is right must be precedence over what I prefer.
Coffee is a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to your older self.
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