I'm very good at integral and differential calculus, I know the scientific names of beings animalculous; In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
I'm really very sorry for you all, but it's an unjust world, and virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects despair towards the unfairness of reality, suggesting that true virtue is often only found in fiction, such as plays.
W. S. Gilbert's quote highlights a cynical perspective on life, indicating that despite individuals' genuine virtues, the world often operates in ways that do not reward such qualities. The phrase 'virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances' implies that morality and goodness may be celebrated in stories and art, yet frequently go unrecognized in real life, leading to a sense of disillusionment with the inherent injustices of the world.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the role of morality in today's society, this quote can illustrate the challenges faced by virtuous individuals.
More from W. S. Gilbert
All quotes βIt isn't so much what's on the table that matters, as what's on the chairs.
When everyone is somebody, then no one's anybody.
Similar quotes
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented.
I haven't any language weak enough to depict the weakness of my spiritual life. If I weakened it enough it would cease to be language at all. As when you try to turn the gas-ring a little lower still, and it merely goes out.
One is almost tempted to say that the language itself is a mythology deprived of its vitality, a bloodless mythology so to speak, which has only preserved in a formal and abstract form what mythology contains in living and concrete form.
Words can bring you only up to their own limit; to go beyond, you must abandon them. Remain as the silent witness only.
I believe in God, who made of one blood all nations that on earth do dwell. I believe that all men, black and brown and white, are brothers, varying through time and opportunity, in form and gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul and the possibility of infinite development.