Many who think they are workers in politics are really merely tools.
If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the skepticism towards various authorities and their perspectives on life.
Lord Salisbury's quote expresses a critical view of how different societal authorities—healthcare professionals, religious leaders, and military figures—often depict the world in a negative light. Each group seems to cast doubt on the wholesomeness, innocence, or safety of experiences and beliefs, suggesting that to fully embrace life, one must question or move beyond the limiting perspectives imposed by these authorities. This can be seen as a commentary on the nature of authority and the importance of personal belief in determining one's understanding of the world.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a debate about the influence of authority on public perception.
More from Lord Salisbury
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I don't think exactly like a professional economist. I think about economics and economic ideas, but somewhat like an outsider.
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
The price of liberty is something more than eternal vigilance. There must also be eternal advance. We can save the rights we have inherited from our fathers only by winning new ones to bequeath our children.
The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That is a commonplace truth, but one to which my studies are always bringing me back. It is the central point in my conception. I see it at the end of all my reflections.
The good society is marked by a high degree of order, justice, and freedom. Among these, order has primacy: for justice cannot be enforced until a tolerable civil social order is attained, nor can freedom be anything better than violence until order gives us laws.
There would be no chance at all of getting to know death if it happened only once. But fortunately, life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change. Every time I hear the rush of a mountain stream, or the waves crashing on the shore, or my own heartbeat, I hear the sound of impermanence. These changes, these small deaths, are our living links with death. They are death's pulses, death's heartbeat, prompting us to let go of all the things we cling to.