Men are but children of a larger growth, Our appetites as apt to change as theirs, And full as craving too, and full as vain.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that adults are essentially like children, driven by changing desires and cravings.
John Dryden's quote reflects on the nature of human behavior, proposing that despite physical growth and maturity, individuals retain the childlike qualities of desire and vanity. It highlights the idea that our wants and needs are ever-changing and that we may not be as rational or evolved as we think, revealing an underlying simplicity in human nature.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of adulthood versus childhood, this quote serves as a reminder of our inherent desires.
Of no distemper, of no blast he died, _x000D_ But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long: _x000D_ Even wonder'd at, because he dropp'd no sooner. _x000D_ Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years; _x000D_ Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more; _x000D_ Till like a clock worn out with eating time, _x000D_ The wheels of weary life at last stood still.
Or hast thou known the world so long in vain?
Shame on the body for breaking down while the spirit perseveres.
Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; and every little absence is an age.
And write whatever Time shall bring to pass_x000D_ _x000D_ With pens of adamant on plates of brass.
β¦So when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And Music shall untune the sky
We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.
What's in store for me in the direction I don't take?
Distracted from distraction by distraction
Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him.
The role of the intellectual cannot be to excuse the violence of one side and condemn that of the other.
You said 'God is cruel' the way a person who's lived his whole life on Tahiti might say 'Snow is cold'. You knew, but you didn't understand." He stepped close to David and put his palms on the boy's cold cheeks. "Do you know how cruel your God can be, David. How fantastically cruel?
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