To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Primroses and landscapes, he pointed out, have one grave defect: they are gratuitous. A love of nature keeps no factories busy. It was decided to abolish the love of nature, at any rate among the lower classes. . . . it was essential that they should keep on going to the country, even though they hated it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the societal value placed on industrial productivity over a genuine appreciation for nature.
Aldous Huxley highlights the conflict between the appreciation of nature and the demands of a society focused on economic productivity. He points out that while natural beauty can enrich human experience, it does not contribute to commerce or industry, leading to a societal push to suppress such feelings among the lower classes, who are forced to engage with nature despite their lack of affection for it. This tension reveals the underlying philosophy that prioritizes utilitarian values over intrinsic beauty and emotional connection.
Themes
NatureSocietyAppreciationIndustrializationEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about environmental conservation, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of connecting with nature.
More from Aldous Huxley
All quotes →Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous HuxleyRead
In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.
Aldous HuxleyRead
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous HuxleyRead
No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Similar quotes
To think that before the hills were formed, or the channels of the sea were scooped out, God loved me; that from everlasting to everlasting His mercy is upon His people. Is not that a consolation?
Charles SpurgeonRead
No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond....a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity.
Fulton J. SheenRead
Was there ever a time when the majority was right?
Robert A. HeinleinRead
To confess your sins to God is not to tell [God] anything [God] doesn't already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.
Frederick BuechnerRead
I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.
Charlotte BronteRead
If a philosophy is to bring happiness it should be inspired by kindly feelings. Marx pretended that he wanted the happiness of the proletariat; what he really wanted was the unhappiness of the bourgeois.
Bertrand RussellRead