It is, I think, an error to believe that there is any need of religion to make life seem worth living.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that one does not need religion to find meaning in life.
Sinclair Lewis critiques the belief that religion is necessary for a fulfilling life. He argues that life can be meaningful and worth living without adhering to religious doctrines, emphasizing personal autonomy and the value of secular perspectives in shaping oneβs purpose and happiness.
In practice
In a discussion about existentialism and the search for life's meaning, this quote can be used to illustrate a secular viewpoint.
Upon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one's business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse; and that the pastor's sermons, however dull they might seem at the time of taking, yet had a voodooistic power which 'did a fellow good-- kept him in touch with Higher Things.
Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country.
Writers kid themselves-about themselves and other people. Take the talk about writing methods. Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type with your toes-it is just work.
She did her work with the thoroughness of a mind which reveres details and never quite understands them.
Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it's still just work.
There are dozens of young poets and fictioneers most of them a little insane in the tradition of James Joyce, who, however insane they may be, have refused to be genteel and traditional and dull.
Law and its instrument, government, are necessary to the peace and safety of all of us, but all of us, unless we live the lives of mud turtles, frequently find them arrayed against us.
The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce. You can't weigh the soul of a man with a bar of pig-iron.
Man is a history-making creature, who can neither repeat his past, nor leave it behind.
If Singapore is a nanny state, then I am proud to have fostered one.
Sadly, we do a much better job of making people feel guilty than we do of delivering them from the guilt we create. We need to confess this and change our ways.
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