Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
If you want your own way, God will let you have it. Hell is the enjoyment of one's own way forever.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Choosing your own way can lead to eternal consequences, often negative.
This quote by Dorothy L. Sayers emphasizes the idea that pursuing one's own desires and selfish inclinations can lead to a state of discomfort or suffering. It warns that while one may be allowed to follow their own path, doing so without regard for higher principles can result in a hellish existence, where satisfaction is derived from one's misguided choices.
Themes
ChoiceDesiresConsequencesSufferingSelfishness
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about the dangers of selfishness, one might use this quote to illustrate the pitfalls of pursuing only personal desires.
More from Dorothy L. Sayers
All quotes βBut suppose one doesn't quite know which one wants to put first. Suppose," said Harriet, falling back on words which were not her own, "suppose one is cursed with both a heart and a brain?" "You can usually tell," said Miss de Vine, "by seeing what kind of mistakes you make. I'm quite sure that one never makes fundamental mistakes about the thing one really wants to do. Fundamental mistakes arise out of lack of genuine interest. In my opinion, that is.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
. . . the fellow's got a bee in his bonnet. Thinks God's a secretion of the liver--all right once in a way, but there's no need to keep on about it. There's nothing you can't prove if your outlook is only sufficiently limited.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
You're thinking that people don't keep up old jealousies for twenty years or so. Perhaps not. Not just primitive, brute jealousy. That means a word and a blow. But the thing that rankles is hurt vanity. That sticks. Humiliation. And we've all got a sore spot we don't like to have touched.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
None of us feels the true love of God till we realize how wicked we are. But you can't teach people that - they have to learn by experience.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person.
Dorothy L. SayersRead
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And truly it demands something god like in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster. High be his heart, faithful his will, clear his sight, that he may in good earnest be doctrine, society, law, to himself, that a simple purpose may be to him as strong as iron necessity is to others!
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