We may lose our memory as we get older, but this might not be such a bad thing - who wants to drag a mental junkyard around at a time of life when you're starting to grow interesting little wings?
Michael LeunigRead
Perhaps life is actually more confusing and unknowable to an adult than a child, but grown-ups have learned to deceive themselves and act as if they understand what's going on; and some are elected to high office on the basis of their ability to create this impression.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Adults often pretend to understand life better than children, leading to a façade of knowledge and control.
This quote highlights the paradox of adulthood, where individuals, despite facing greater confusion and uncertainty, often project an image of understanding and control. It suggests that societal roles, particularly in leadership, may rely more on the ability to create a confident façade than on genuine comprehension, raising questions about authenticity and the nature of knowledge in adult life.
Themes
LifeConfusionUnderstandingAdultsChildren
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be great for a discussion at a philosophy club about the nature of knowledge.
More from Michael Leunig
All quotes →Sometimes I wonder if the semi-conscious agenda of the media is to get between people and their souls. It is the the soul with its myriad tiny nerve endings that notices the neglected pathos, poignancy and practicality that lies at the heart of life. It's as if the media are somehow irritated and envious that anonymous people should have the quiet brilliance of their rich and sustainable inner lives.
Michael LeunigRead
What a magical thing is the bed, and what a vulnerable, innocent creature is the sleeping human - the human who never looks more truthful or pitiful or benign; the curled-up, childlike dreaming soul who has for a few hours become an angel adrift.
Michael LeunigRead
So few humans seem to fully exist themselves that I wonder if all this endless speculation and haggling about God is really an exploration of a more interesting and embarrassing question about ourselves.
Michael LeunigRead
Similar quotes
Why does man regret, even though he may endeavour to banish any such regret, that he has followed the one natural impulse, rather than the other; and why does he further feel that he ought to regret his conduct? Man in this respect differs profoundly from the lower animals.
Charles DarwinRead
The honest man might observe... that no one gets something for nothing; that politicians go in poor and go out rich; that the Government screws up everything it touches; and that the Will to Believe is best confined to the Religious Venue, as to practice it elsewhere is just too damned expensive.
David MametRead
If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will -the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.
William HazlittRead
No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades.
J. R. R. TolkienRead
Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go.
Jean De La FontaineRead
The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of members of parliament.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead