God how I hate new countries: They are older than the old, more sophisticated, much more conceited, only young in a certain puerile vanity more like senility than anything.
D. H. LawrenceRead
Sentimentalism is the working off on yourself of feelings you haven't really got.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sentimentalism involves feigning emotions that are not genuinely felt.
In this quote, D. H. Lawrence critiques the phenomenon of sentimentalism, suggesting that it is an exercise in expressing emotions that one does not actually possess. He implies that such behavior can lead to inauthenticity and a disconnect between true feelings and the emotions one displays to others.
Themes
SentimentalismFeelingsAuthenticityEmotionsSelf-Deception
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on authenticity in relationships, one might say, 'D. H. Lawrence reminds us that sentimentalism is the working off on yourself of feelings you haven't really got.'
More from D. H. Lawrence
All quotes βA young man is afraid of his demon and puts his hand over the demon's mouth sometimes and speaks for him. And the things the young man says are very rarely poetry.
D. H. LawrenceRead
And besides, look at elder flowers and bluebells-they are a sign that pure creation takes place - even the butterfly. But humanity never gets beyond the caterpillar stage -it rots in the chrysalis, it never will have wings.It is anti-creation, like monkeys and baboons.
D. H. LawrenceRead
The Christian fear of the pagan outlook has damaged the whole consciousness of man.
D. H. LawrenceRead
The cosmos is a vast living body, of which we are still parts. The sun is a great heart whose tremors run through our smallest veins. The moon is a great nerve center from which we quiver forever. Who knows the power that Saturn has over us, or Venus? But it is a vital power, rippling exquisitely through us all the time.
D. H. LawrenceRead
... he preferred his own madness, to the regular sanity. He rejoiced in his own madness, he was free. He did not want that old sanity of the world, which was become so repulsive. He rejoiced in the new-found world of his madness. It was so fresh and delicate and so satisfying.
D. H. LawrenceRead
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