Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture.
Anthony BurgessRead
It may not be nice to be good, little 6655321. It may be horrible to be good. And when I say that to you I realize how self-contradictory that sounds. I know I shall have many sleepless nights about this. What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him? Deep and hard questions, little 6655321.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote explores the complexity of goodness and the moral choices individuals face.
In this quote, Anthony Burgess delves into the intricate nature of morality, questioning whether true goodness stems from an individual's free choice or is merely a result of external expectations. He suggests that the struggle between choosing good and bad is inherently tied to one's moral character, provoking profound thoughts about the essence of goodness and whether it's more virtuous to choose goodness freely than to have it imposed upon oneself.
Themes
MoralityChoiceGoodnessPhilosophySelf-Reflection
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical debate about morality and choices.
More from Anthony Burgess
All quotes →There is a satisfactory boniness about grammar which the flesh of sheer vocabulary requires before it can become a vertebrate and walk the earth.
Anthony BurgessRead
There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie and Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening.
Anthony BurgessRead
Violence among young people is an aspect of their desire to create. They don't know how to use their energy creatively so they do the opposite and destroy.
Anthony BurgessRead
Only in England is the perversion of language regarded as a victory for democracy.
Anthony BurgessRead
You needn't take it any further, sir. You've proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I've learned me lesson, sir. I've seen now what I've never seen before. I'm cured! Praise Bog! I'm cured!
Anthony BurgessRead
Similar quotes
And we are magic talking to itself, noisy and alone. I am queen of all my sins forgotten. Am I still lost? Once I was beautiful. Now I am myself
Anne SextonRead
Nobody dares to solve the problems-because the solution might contradict your philosophy, and for most people clinging to beliefs is more important than succeeding in the world.
Michael CrichtonRead
It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.
W. E. B. Du BoisRead
On this ancient and miraculous world, where such beautiful natural and living things have evolved, something has gone wrong when life itself is used as a manufacturing process.
Roger EbertRead
Your name or your body, what is dearer? Your body or your wealth, what is worthier?
LaoziRead
Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me--
George OrwellRead