Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.
H. G. WellsRead
The serious people who took him seriously never felt quite sure of his deportment; they were somehow aware that trusting their reputations for judgment with him was like furnishing a nursery with egg-shell china.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote illustrates the uncertainty that can arise when placing trust in someone with unpredictable behavior.
H. G. Wells reflects on the complexity of trusting individuals whose actions or demeanor may not align with societal expectations. The metaphor of 'furnishing a nursery with egg-shell china' emphasizes the fragility and potential consequences of relying on someone who is not conventionally serious or reliable. It suggests a paradox where serious individuals recognize the risk involved in their trust, evoking contemplation about judgment and reputation in personal and professional relationships.
Themes
TrustJudgmentSeriousnessReputationFragility
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of trust in relationships.
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
H. G. WellsRead
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.
H. G. WellsRead
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.
H. G. WellsRead
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.
H. G. WellsRead
The greatest task of democracy, its ritual and feast - is choice.
H. G. WellsRead
Similar quotes
He's got hands so long and white and dainty I think they carved each other out of soap, and sometimes they get loose and glide around in front of him free as two white birds until he notices them and traps them between his knees; it bothers him that he's got pretty hands.
Ken KeseyRead
Prayer is not a preparation for the battle; it is the battle!
Leonard RavenhillRead
No one is ever satisfied where he is.
Antoine De Saint-ExuperyRead
I was a victim of a stereotype. There were only two of us Negro kids in the whole class, and our English teacher was always stressing the importance of rhythm in poetry. Well, everybody knows - except us - that all Negroes have rhythms, so they elected me class poet.
Langston HughesRead
When I see the Confederate flag, I see the attempt to raise an empire in slavery. It really, really is that simple. I don't understand how anybody with any sort of education on the Civil War can see anything else.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
When one begins to think about it, America depends rather heavily on women's passive dependence, their femininity. Femininity, if one still wants to call it that, makes American women a target and a victim of the sexual sell.
Betty FriedanRead