Education, the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the age purports to equip us to live and is prescribed as a universal remedy for everything from juvenile delinquency to premature senility.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
On television I feel like a man playing piano in a brothel; every now and again he solaces himself by playing 'Abide with Me' in the hope of edifying both the clients and the inmates
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the contrast between art and the surrounding environment, suggesting a struggle for meaning in a place devoid of it.
Malcolm Muggeridge's quote uses the metaphor of a man playing piano in a brothel to illustrate the challenge of finding dignity and purpose in a context that is largely superficial and morally ambiguous. His reference to the hymn 'Abide with Me' signifies a desire to bring some level of solace or enlightenment to both those who indulge and those who are trapped, highlighting the tension between higher ideals and the realities of life.
Themes
ArtMeaningStruggleSocietyDignity
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a discussion about the role of art in society during a cultural event.
More from Malcolm Muggeridge
All quotes →This life in us; however low it flickers or fiercely burns, is still a divine flame which no man dare presume to put out, be his motives never so humane and enlightened; To suppose otherwise is to countenance a death-wish; Either life is always and in all circumstances sacred, or intrinsically of no account; it is inconceivable that it should be in some cases the one, and in some the other.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
I never met a rich man who was happy, but I have only very occasionally met a poor man who did not want to become a rich man.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
It was a somber place, haunted by old jokes and lost laughter. Life, as I discovered, holds no more wretched occupation than trying to make the English laugh.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
Bad humor is an evasion of reality; good humor is an acceptance of it.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
The only ultimate disaster that can befall us is to feel ourselves at home on this earth.
Malcolm MuggeridgeRead
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