The private control of credit is the modern form of slavery.
Upton SinclairRead
The supreme crime of the church to-day is that everywhere and in all its operations and influences it is on the side of sloth of mind; that it banishes brains, it sanctifies stupidity, it canonizes incompetence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote criticizes the church for promoting ignorance and discouraging intellectual engagement.
Upton Sinclair's quote addresses the detrimental role of the church in society, suggesting that it fosters laziness of thought and celebrates ignorance over critical thinking. By claiming that the church supports incompetence and banishes intellectual pursuit, Sinclair calls into question the moral and ethical responsibilities of religious institutions in fostering a society that values knowledge and understanding.
Themes
IgnoranceChurchIntellectualismStupidityCriticism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the role of religion in education.
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All quotes βHuman beings suffer agonies, and their sad fates become legends; poets write verses about them and playwrights compose dramas, and the remembrance of past grief becomes a source of present pleasure - such is the strange alchemy of the spirit.
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I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.
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And as for other men, who worked in tank-rooms full of steam, and in some of which there were open vats near the level of the floor, their peculiar trouble was that they fell into the vats; and when they were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting,-sometimes they would be overlooked for days, till all but the bones of them had gone out into the world as Durham's Pure Leaf Lard! This contributed to the passing of the Pure Food Act of 1906.
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Fascism is capitalism plus murder.
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The old wanderlust had gotten into his blood, the joy of the unbound life, the joy of seeking, of hoping without limit.
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