Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
We ought not to extract pernicious honey from poison blossoms of misrepresentation and mendacious half-truth, to pamper the course appetite of bigotry and self-love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We should not seek false comfort in misleading information that only serves our biases.
This quote by Samuel Taylor Coleridge warns against the dangers of accepting misleading truths that cater to our prejudices. He emphasizes that indulging in these 'poison blossoms' can foster bigotry and narcissism, urging us to pursue genuine understanding instead of convenient but false narratives.
Themes
TruthBiasMisrepresentationBigotrySelf-LoveWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the importance of honesty in journalism.
More from Samuel Taylor Coleridge
All quotes βAnd all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
Often do the spirits stride on before the event; and in today already walks tomorrow.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
Mr. Lyell's system of geology is just half the truth, and no more. He affirms a great deal that is true, and he denies a great deal which is equally true; which is the general characteristic of all systems not embracing the whole truth.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
To believe and to understand are not diverse things, but the same things in different periods of growth.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
I look'd to Heav'n, and try'd to pray; But or ever a prayer had gusht, A wicked whisper came and made My heart as dry as dust.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
Similar quotes
And so was Luria, whose words now came back to me: βA man does not consist of memory alone. He has feeling, will, sensibility, moral being ... It is here ... you may touch him, and see a profound change.β Memory, mental activity, mind alone, could not hold him; but moral attention and action could hold him completely.
Oliver SacksRead
The gratification which affluence of wealth, extent of power, and eminence of reputation confer, must be always, by their own nature, confined to a very small number; and the life of the greater part of mankind must be lost in empty wishes and painful comparisons, were not the balm of philosophy shed upon us, and our discontent at the appearances of unequal distribution soothed and appeased.
Samuel JohnsonRead
If there is any realm where distinction is especially difficult, it is the realm of childhood memories, the realm of beloved images harbored in memory since childhood. These memories which live by the image and in virtue of the image become, at certain times of our lives and particularly during the quiet age, the origin and matter of a complex reverie: the memory dreams, and reverie remembers.
Gaston BachelardRead
In philosophy, as in politics, the longest distance between two points is a straight line.
Will DurantRead
It was when I realised I had a new nationality: I was in exile. I am an adulterous resident: when I am in one city, I am dreaming of the other. I am an exile; citizen of the country of longing.
Suketu MehtaRead
They all err - Muslims, Christians, Jews and Magians. There are two kinds of humans - the intelligent, who have no religion, and the religious, who have no intellect.
Al-MaarriRead