A dream has power to poison sleep.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
At the very time that philosophers of the most enterprising benevolence were founding in Greece those institutions which have rendered it the wonder and luminary of the world, am I required to believe that the weak and wicked king of an obscure and barbarous nation, a murderer, a traitor and a tyrant, was the man after God's own heart?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the morality of a revered figure amidst the establishment of noble institutions.
Percy Bysshe Shelley grapples with the contradiction between the revered qualities of a benevolent society and the morally reprehensible actions of a king considered favored by God. This quote reflects a deep philosophical inquiry into virtue, power, and the moral implications of historical narratives, prompting us to examine how we reconcile moral integrity with political authority.
Themes
MoralityPowerPhilosophyHistoryBenevolence
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the morality of historical leaders.
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A sensitive plant in a garden grew,_x000D_ _x000D_ And the young winds fed it with silver dew,_x000D_ _x000D_ And it opened its fan_x000D_ _x000D_ like leaves to the light,_x000D_ _x000D_ and closed them beneath the kisses of night.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.
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O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
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Ah, woe is me! Winter is come and gone. But grief returns with the revolving year.
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