Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust. In a closely beleaguered city every sentry is a potential traitor.
Graham GreeneRead
Against the beautiful and the clever and the successful, one can wage a pitiless war, but not against the unattractive: then the millstone weighs on the breast.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the difficulty of confronting unattractiveness in others, as it burdens one's conscience.
Graham Greene's quote suggests that while it may be easier to criticize or oppose those who are beautiful, clever, or successful, the challenge arises when dealing with unattractiveness. This 'millstone' represents the guilt or emotional weight one carries when judging individuals based on their appearances, reminding us of the inherent difficulties in accepting and confronting the less desirable aspects of human nature.
Themes
AttractivenessJudgmentHuman NatureGuiltAppearance
In practice
Example use cases
A discussion on societal beauty standards during a psychology class.
More from Graham Greene
All quotes →It seemed to Scobie that life was immeasurably long. Couldn’t the test of man have been carried out in fewer years? Couldn’t we have committed our first major sin at seven, have ruined ourselves for love or hate at ten, have clutched at redemption on a fifteen-year-old deathbed?
Graham GreeneRead
God is love. I don't say the heart doesn't feel a taste of it, but what a taste. The smallest glass of love mixed with a pint pot of ditch-water. We wouldn't recognize that love. It might even look like hate. It would be enough to scare us - God's love.
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Of two hearts one is always warm and one is always cold: the cold heart is more precious than diamonds: the warm heart has no value and is thrown away.
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Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
Graham GreeneRead
Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.
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