Besides, do any of us understand what we are doing? If we did, would we ever do it?
George Bernard ShawRead
In all things there must be order, but it must of such a kind as is possible to observe...to see a man burnt for doing as he thought right, harms the people, for this is a matter of conscience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that order is essential, but it must allow for individual conscience and moral actions without leading to harm.
William The Silent highlights the tension between societal order and individual conscience. While order is necessary for a functioning society, it should not suppress individual beliefs and actions that are morally right. The harm caused when someone is punished for acting according to their conscience undermines the very fabric of society, as it disregards personal integrity and moral judgment.
Themes
OrderConscienceMoralSocietyJustice
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a community meeting could use this quote to emphasize the importance of ethical decision-making.
Similar quotes
I am the harvest of man's stupidity. I am the fruit of the holocaust. I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can't forget.
Eugene B. SledgeRead
When I read profiles of myself, I sometimes think: 'I have spent my whole life struggling to understand my motivations and impulses, and I've never quite sorted them out.'
Michael PalinRead
The difficulty for most of us in the modern world is that the old-fashioned idea of God has become incredible or implausible.
Alan WattsRead
Searching for the self when I was entirely alone was hazardous. What if I found not so much a great emptiness as a space full of unpleasant contents, a compound of long-hidden truths, closeted, buried, forgotten. When I went looking, I was playing a desperate game of hide-and-seek, fearful of what I might find, most afraid that I would find nothing.
Doris GrumbachRead
The war of ideas is a Greek invention. It is one of the most important inventions ever made. Indeed, the possibility of fighting with with words and ideas instead of fighting with swords is the very basis of our civilization, and especially of all its legal and parliamentary institutions.
Karl PopperRead