The function of a book or a poem or a story is to delight, to enchant, to beguile.
Philip PullmanRead
And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are. All we can say is that this is a good deed, because it helps someone or that's an evil one because it hurts them. People are too complicated to have simple labels.
Interpretation
Good and evil are actions rather than inherent qualities of individuals.
This quote by Philip Pullman suggests that the concepts of good and evil should be viewed in terms of actions rather than the nature of individuals. It emphasizes the complexity of human behavior, arguing that labeling people as simply 'good' or 'evil' is overly simplistic and fails to capture the nuanced nature of human morality.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about moral philosophy in a classroom setting.
The function of a book or a poem or a story is to delight, to enchant, to beguile.
Education and health were always matters of charity. You educated children and you helped the sick because they were good things to do, not because you were going to make money out of them. If you let the money-making principle, the profit-seeking motive, anywhere near education and health, things go bad.
To get the best out of life here ...Good grief. There's plenty of it about, so indulge. Give yourself some thing to remember. Fall in love. Fall out of love. Gamble. Get drunk. See how long you can stay awake. Go for long walks at night. Discover what you're afraid of doing, and then do it.
People should decide on the books' meanings for themselves. They'll find a story that attacks such things as cruelty, oppression, intolerance, unkindness, narrow-mindedness, and celebrates love, kindness, open-mindedness, tolerance, curiosity, human intelligence.
I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he'd see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I'd ever done...I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn't. There is none.
Lyra learns to her great cost that fantasy isn’t enough. She has been lying all her life, telling stories to people, making up fantasies, and suddenly she comes to a point where that’s not enough. All she can do is tell the truth. She tells the truth about her childhood, about the experiences she had in Oxford, and that is what saves her. True experience, not fantasy - reality, not lies - is what saves us in the end.
Very well then; emancipation from usury and money, that is, from practical, real Judaism, would constitute the emancipation of our time.
You can only hear clearly when you sit quietly, when you give your attention. Nor can you have order if you are not free to watch, if you are not free to listen, if you are not free to be considerate. This problem of freedom and order is one of the most difficult and urgent problems in life. It is a very complex problem. It needs to be thought over much more than mathematics, geography, or history.
He who imitates what is evil always goes beyond the example that is set; on the contrary, he who imitates what is good always falls short.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can always be pretended.
It is quite possible--overwhelmingly probable, one might guess--that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology
The challenge today is to convince people of the value of truth, honesty, compassion and a concern for others.
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