A satirist is a man whose flesh creeps so at the ugly and the savage and the incongruous aspects of society that he has to express them as brutally and nakedly as possible in order to get relief.
John Dos PassosRead
The mind cannot support moral chaos for long. Men are under as strong a compulsion to invent an ethical setting for their behavior as spiders are to weave themselves webs
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that people inherently need to create a moral framework to make sense of their actions, similar to how spiders instinctively weave webs.
John Dos Passos highlights the necessity of morality in human behavior, implying that individuals cannot thrive in a state of moral uncertainty or chaos. Just as spiders are compelled to build their webs, humans are driven to establish ethical beliefs to guide their actions and interactions, ensuring a stable and coherent existence.
Themes
MoralityEthicsBehaviorChaosHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on ethics in a philosophy class.
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U.S.A. is the speech of the people
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