There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.
A. E. HousmanRead
In every American there is an air of incorrigible innocence, which seems to conceal a diabolical cunning.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the complex nature of American identity, blending innocence with underlying cleverness.
A. E. Housman suggests that, while Americans possess an inherent innocence, there exists a beneath-the-surface cunning that can be quite shrewd. This duality reveals the complexity of human nature and cultural identity, highlighting that what may initially seem innocent can possess layers of strategic thinking and cleverness.
Themes
InnocenceCunningIdentityHuman NatureComplexity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about American culture, one could use this quote to illustrate the dual nature of its people.
More from A. E. Housman
All quotes βWho made the world I cannot tell; 'Tis made, and here am I in hell. My hand, though now my knuckles bleed, I never soiled with such a deed.
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I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not an optimist but a meliorist); and that philosophy is founded on my observation of the world, not on anything so trivial and irrelevant as personal history.
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Lovers lying two and two Ask not whom they sleep beside, And the bridegroom all night through Never turns him to the bride.
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And malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man.
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Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking_x000D_ _x000D_ Spins the heavy world around.
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