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
the more i live, the more i realize what strange creatures human beings are. some of them might just as well have a hundred legs, like a centipede, or six, like a lobster. the human consistency and dignity one has been led to expect from one's fellow-man seem actually non-existent. one doubts if they exist to any startling degree even in oneself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the complexity and unpredictability of human nature.
D. H. Lawrence's quote suggests that the more experiences one has in life, the more one becomes aware of the bizarre and inconsistent nature of humanity. It implies that the dignity and consistency we expect from our fellow humans often fall short, leading to a realization of our own flaws and the strange behaviors exhibited by people, which may not align with our ideals of humanity.
Themes
HumanityNatureInconsistencyExistencePerception
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared in a discussion about human behavior in psychology classes.
More from D. H. Lawrence
All quotes →A 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.
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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.
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The Christian fear of the pagan outlook has damaged the whole consciousness of man.
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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.
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... 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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