Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.
Sailors ought never to go to church. They ought to go to hell, where it is much more comfortable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously suggests that sailors, known for their rugged and rebellious nature, would be better suited for hell than for church.
H. G. Wells's quote reflects a comedic critique of the traditional expectations of morality and piety often associated with sailors. By suggesting that sailors should go to hell instead of church, he implies that their lifestyle is more aligned with the chaotic and rebellious spirit of hell than with the disciplined and moralistic environment of a church, highlighting a humorous juxtaposition between societal norms and individual realities.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech at a naval reunion, one might use this quote to inject humor while discussing the rugged life of sailors.
More from H. G. Wells
All quotes →He spares no resource in telling of his dead inventions... Bare verbs he rarely tolerates. He splits infinitives and fills them up with adverbial stuffing. He presses the passing colloquialism into his service. His vast paragraphis sweat and struggle; the
It [a new world order] needs only that the governments of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, and Russia should get together in order to set up an effective control of currency, credit, production, and distribution – that is to say, an effective ‘dictatorship of prosperity,’ for the whole world. The other sixty odd States would have to join in or accommodate themselves to the over-ruling decisions of these major Powers.
Things that would have made fame of a less clever man seemed tricks in his hands. It is a mistake to do things too easily.
But I was too restless to watch long; I'm too Occidental for a long vigil. I could work at a problem for years, but to wait inactive for twenty-four hours - that's another matter.
The greatest task of democracy, its ritual and feast - is choice.
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