The only way to eliminate any government choice on what art is worthwhile, what art isn't worthwhile, is to get the government totally out of the business of funding.
Antonin ScaliaRead
What is a moderate interpretation of the text? Halfway between what it really means and what you'd like it to mean?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote questions the validity of interpreting texts by finding a compromise between their true meaning and personal desires.
Antonin Scalia's quote reflects on the nuances of textual interpretation, suggesting that a 'moderate' interpretation is often a flawed approach. Rather than seeking a balance between the objective truth of a text and subjective preferences, Scalia emphasizes the importance of understanding the original intent and context without distortion. This provokes deeper considerations about how texts, especially legal and literary ones, should be understood and applied.
Themes
InterpretationTextMeaningTruthSubjectivity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the Constitution, one might use this quote to express the dangers of misinterpretation.
More from Antonin Scalia
All quotes βIf I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.
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To allow the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.
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Until the courts put a stop to it, public debate over same-sex marriage displayed American democracy at its best. Individuals on both sides of the issue passionately, but respectfully, attempted to persuade their fellow citizens to accept their views.
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Being a good person begins with being a wise person. Then, when you follow your conscience, will you be headed in the right direction.
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If you're going to be a good and faithful judge, you have to resign yourself to the fact that you're not always going to like the conclusions you reach. If you like them all the time, you're probably doing something wrong.
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My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind.
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The emotional reaction in the peak experience has a special flavor of wonder, of awe, of reverence, of humility and surrender before the experience as before something great.
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Feelings come, and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God, naught else is worth believing.
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And a question stirred within me: What if he, this yellow-eyed creature, in his disorderly, filthy mound of leaves, in his uncomputed life, is happier than we are?
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