Everybody must be managed. Queens must be managed. Kings must be managed, for men want managing almost as much as women, and that's saying a good deal.
Thomas HardyRead
That mercy towards one set of creatures was cruelty towards another sickened his sense of harmony. As you got older, and felt yourself to be at the center of your time, and not at a point in its circumference, as you had felt when you were little, you were seized with a sort of shuddering, he perceived. All around you there seemed to be something glaring, garish, rattling, and the noises and glares hit upon the little cell called your life, and shook it, and warped it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the discomfort of recognizing the complexity of existence and the discord between different forms of life.
In this quote, Thomas Hardy explores the tension between mercy towards certain creatures and the inherent cruelty it causes to others, suggesting that a deep sense of harmony is disrupted by the awareness of such contradictions. As one matures, the realization of being at the center of one’s own existence versus viewing life from a distance can lead to feelings of discomfort and anxiety, especially when confronted by the chaotic and overwhelming nature of life's experiences.
Themes
MercyCrueltyHarmonyExistenceMaturity
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on the interconnectedness of life, this quote can be used to illustrate the ethical dilemmas we face.
More from Thomas Hardy
All quotes →Because what's the use of learning that I am one of a long row only - finding out that there is set down in some old book somebody just like me, and to know that I shall only act her part; making me sad, that's all. The best is not to remember your nature and your past doings have been just like thousands' and thousands', and that your coming life and doings'll be like thousands' and thousands'.
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But nothing is more insidious than the evolution of wishes from mere fancies, and of wants from mere wishes.
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I wish I had never been born--there or anywhere else.
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Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess's being; it enveloped her as a photosphere, irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past sorrows, keeping back the gloomy spectres that would persist in their attempts to touch her—doubt, fear, moodiness, care, shame. She knew that they were waiting like wolves just outside the circumscribing light, but she had long spells of power to keep them in hungry subjection there.
Thomas HardyRead
The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven't they? -that is, seem as if they had. And the river says,-'Why do ye trouble me with your looks?' And you seem to see numbers of to-morrows just all in a line, the first of them the biggest and clearest, the others getting smaller and smaller as they stand further away; but they all seem very fierce and cruel and as if they said, 'I'm coming! Beware of me! Beware of me!
Thomas HardyRead
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