To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a desire for authentic experiences over superficial comfort, embracing both the joys and challenges of life.
Aldous Huxley's quote reflects a deep longing for a meaningful existence, prioritizing profound experiences such as spirituality, creativity, and the acceptance of life's inherent risks. He contrasts the allure of comfort with the pursuit of authentic joys and struggles, suggesting that true fulfillment lies in embracing complexity rather than seeking mere ease. By acknowledging both goodness and sin, Huxley emphasizes the importance of a balanced, vivid life that includes both the light and dark aspects of human experience.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a motivational speech about the importance of embracing life's challenges.
More from Aldous Huxley
All quotes βFacts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife.
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
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Compassion is the key in Islam and Buddhism and Judaism and Christianity. They are profoundly similar.
It has always been a peculiarity of the human race that it keeps two sets of morals in stock-the private and the real, and the public and the artificial.
A person I knew used to divide human beings into three categories: those who prefer to have nothing to hide rather than being obliged to lie, those who prefer lying to having nothing to hide, and finally those who like both lying and the hidden.
Purity of soul cannot be lost without consent.
The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.
The human phenomenon is but the sum Of densely coiled layers of illusion Each of which winds itself on the supreme insanity That there are persons of any kind When all there can be is mindless mirrors Laughing and screaming as they parade about in an endless dream