To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The most distressing thing that can happen to a prophet is to be proved wrong. The next most distressing thing is to be proved right.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A prophet faces distress in both being wrong and being right, highlighting the burdens of truth and foresight.
This quote by Aldous Huxley suggests that a prophet, or someone who predicts the future, experiences great distress regardless of the outcome of their predictions. If proven wrong, they face the shame of failure, and if proven right, they bear the heavy weight of having foretold a troubling truth, underscoring the emotional toll associated with insight and foresight.
Themes
DistressTruthForesightProphetBurden
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the responsibilities of leaders, one might reference this quote to illustrate the pressure they face.
More from Aldous Huxley
All quotes βFacts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous HuxleyRead
In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.
Aldous HuxleyRead
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous HuxleyRead
No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Similar quotes
To come to faith on the basis of experience alone is unwise, though not so foolish as to reject faith altogether because of lack of experience ... the quality of a Christian's experience depends on the quality of his faith, just as the quality of his faith depends in turn on the quality of his understanding of God's truth.
Os GuinnessRead
New York remains what it has always been : a city of ebb and flow, a city of constant shifts of population and economics, a city of virtually no rest. It is harsh, dirty, and dangerous, it is whimsical and fanciful, it is beautiful and soaring - it is not one or another of these things but all of them, all at once, and to fail to accept this paradox is to deny the reality of city existence.
Paul GoldbergerRead
Nothing I read about grief seemed to exactly express the craziness of it; which was the interesting aspect of it to me - how really tenuous our sanity is.
Joan DidionRead
True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is.
R. D. LaingRead
Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.
William PennRead
Who on earth invented the silly convention that it is boring or impolite to talk shop? Nothing is more interesting to listen to, especially if the shop is not one's own.
W. H. AudenRead