The American elite is almost beyond redemption. . . . Moral relativism has set in so deeply that the gilded classes have become incapable of discerning right from wrong. Everything can be explained away, especially by journalists. Life is one great moral mush--sophistry washed down with Chardonnay. The ordinary citizens, thank goodness, still adhere to absolutes.... It is they who have saved the republic from creeping degradation while their 'betters' were derelict.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the moral decay of the elite and praises ordinary citizens for upholding ethical standards.
In this quote, Charles Dickens comments on the moral decline observed among the elite classes, whom he believes have lost their ability to distinguish right from wrong due to a deep-seated moral relativism. He contrasts this with the perspective of ordinary citizens, who he feels maintain clear ethical standards and have ultimately played a crucial role in preserving the integrity of society and the republic against the negligence of the wealthy and influential.
In practice
A political speech emphasizing the importance of moral integrity in leadership.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
You live in the age of interdependence. Borders don't count for much or stop much, good or bad, anymore.
It is only work that is done as freewill offering to humanity and to nature that does not bring with it any binding attachment.
And the elephant sings deep in the forest-maze_x000D_ _x000D_ About a star of deathless and painless peace_x000D_ _x000D_ But no astronomer can find where it is.
I think that the present is worth attention, one shouldn't sacrifice it to future conceptions of, of this future or that future.
War is the father and king of all: some he has made gods, and some men; some slaves and some free.
I'm bothered when people don't understand that they have an obligation to use their best measure of devotion, of resources, to sacrifice for the common good.
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