Education, the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the age purports to equip us to live and is prescribed as a universal remedy for everything from juvenile delinquency to premature senility.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
This life in us; however low it flickers or fiercely burns, is still a divine flame which no man dare presume to put out, be his motives never so humane and enlightened; To suppose otherwise is to countenance a death-wish; Either life is always and in all circumstances sacred, or intrinsically of no account; it is inconceivable that it should be in some cases the one, and in some the other.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is inherently valuable and should be respected in all circumstances.
Malcolm Muggeridge emphasizes the sacredness of life, arguing that it possesses an intrinsic value that must not be undermined by external circumstances or motives, no matter how noble they may seem. He warns against the idea that life can be deemed less valuable in certain situations, suggesting that such a belief reflects a dangerous mindset that can lead to a disregard for life's sanctity.
Themes
LifeSacredValueIntrinsicPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on ethics, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of valuing life in all forms.
More from Malcolm Muggeridge
All quotes →I never met a rich man who was happy, but I have only very occasionally met a poor man who did not want to become a rich man.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
It was a somber place, haunted by old jokes and lost laughter. Life, as I discovered, holds no more wretched occupation than trying to make the English laugh.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
Bad humor is an evasion of reality; good humor is an acceptance of it.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
The only ultimate disaster that can befall us is to feel ourselves at home on this earth.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
All happenings, great and small, are parables whereby God speaks. The art of life is to get the message. To see all that is offered us at the windows of the soul, and to reach out and receive what is offered, this is the art of living.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
Similar quotes
Stoicism is about the *domestication* of emotions, not their elimination.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
I had displeased the jacobins by blaming their aristocratic usurpation of legitimate powers; the priests of all sorts by claiming religious liberty; the anarchists by repressing them; and the conspirators by rejecting their offers.
Marquis De LafayetteRead
A man is none the less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years. Neither are a people any the less slaves because permitted periodically to choose new masters.
Lysander SpoonerRead
The essence of globalization is a subordination of human rights, of labor rights, consumer, environmental rights, democracy rights, to the imperatives of global trade and investment.
Ralph NaderRead
Ideas can no more flow backward than can a river.
Victor HugoRead
In every truth, the opposite is equally true. For example, a truth can only be expressed and enveloped in words if it is onesided.
Hermann HesseRead