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If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
Lord Salisbury
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote highlights the skepticism towards various authorities and their perspectives on life.

Lord Salisbury's quote expresses a critical view of how different societal authorities—healthcare professionals, religious leaders, and military figures—often depict the world in a negative light. Each group seems to cast doubt on the wholesomeness, innocence, or safety of experiences and beliefs, suggesting that to fully embrace life, one must question or move beyond the limiting perspectives imposed by these authorities. This can be seen as a commentary on the nature of authority and the importance of personal belief in determining one's understanding of the world.

Themes

BeliefAuthoritySkepticismWisdomDoubt

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a debate about the influence of authority on public perception.

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