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
The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfillment.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that physical pleasure has taken precedence over spiritual or religious fulfillment in contemporary society.
Malcolm Muggeridge's quote reflects a shift in societal values where the pursuit of physical pleasure, embodied by the orgasm, has overshadowed traditional spiritual symbols like the Cross. It critiques modernity's tendency to prioritize immediate gratification and sensual experiences over deeper, more meaningful pursuits of fulfillment and connection to spiritual beliefs.
Themes
PleasureFulfillmentSpiritualitySocietyLonging
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about modern values, one could quote Muggeridge to highlight societal shifts.
More from Malcolm Muggeridge
All quotes βThis 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.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
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
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