"Oddities do not strike odd people. This is why ordinary people have a much more exciting time; while odd people are always complaining of the dullness of life. This is also why the new novels die so quickly, and why the old fairy tales endure for ever. The old fairy tale makes the hero a normal human boy; it is his adventures that are startling; they startle him because he is normal. But in the modern psychological novel the hero is abnormal; the centre is not central. Hence the fiercest adventures fail to affect him adequately, and the book is monotonous. You can make a story out of a hero among dragons; but not out of a dragon among dragons. The fairy tale discusses what a sane man will do in a mad world. The sober realistic novel of to-day discusses what an essential lunatic will do in a dull world."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orthodoxy_(book)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Orthodoxy (book)
136 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Orthodoxy (book) →
Related Quotes
"The truth is that there is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it is practically a more poiso…"
"The sages, it is often said, can see no answer to the riddle of religion. But the trouble with our sages is not that …"
"The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. W…"
"Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never me…"
"There is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped."
"We are on the road to producing a race of men too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. We are in d…"
"Humor can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle."
"The phrases of the street are not only forcible but subtle: for a figure of speech can often get into a crack too sma…"
"It is only with one aspect of humility that we are here concerned. Humility was largely meant as a restraint upon the…"
"Religious authority has often, doubtless, been oppressive or unreasonable; just as every legal system (and especially…"