Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
It's not the innocent young things that need gentle handling--it's the ones that have been frightened and hurt.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Those who have experienced pain and fear require more compassion than the innocent.
This quote emphasizes the importance of showing kindness and understanding to individuals who have faced trauma or hardship. Unlike those who are naive and innocent, those who have been hurt in life may carry emotional scars and require a more patient and gentle approach to nurture their healing and growth.
Themes
CompassionKindnessHealingTraumaUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a mental health awareness event could use this quote to highlight the need for compassion among those dealing with trauma.
More from Dorothy L. Sayers
All quotes βBut suppose one doesn't quite know which one wants to put first. Suppose," said Harriet, falling back on words which were not her own, "suppose one is cursed with both a heart and a brain?" "You can usually tell," said Miss de Vine, "by seeing what kind of mistakes you make. I'm quite sure that one never makes fundamental mistakes about the thing one really wants to do. Fundamental mistakes arise out of lack of genuine interest. In my opinion, that is.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
. . . the fellow's got a bee in his bonnet. Thinks God's a secretion of the liver--all right once in a way, but there's no need to keep on about it. There's nothing you can't prove if your outlook is only sufficiently limited.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
You're thinking that people don't keep up old jealousies for twenty years or so. Perhaps not. Not just primitive, brute jealousy. That means a word and a blow. But the thing that rankles is hurt vanity. That sticks. Humiliation. And we've all got a sore spot we don't like to have touched.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
None of us feels the true love of God till we realize how wicked we are. But you can't teach people that - they have to learn by experience.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
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