"The truth that Dostoevsky puts in the mouth of the Grand Inquisitor is that humankind has never sought freedom, and never will. The secular religions of modern times tell us that humans yearn to be free; and it is true that they find restraint of any kind irksome. Yet it is rare that individuals value their freedom more than the comfort that comes with servility, and rarer still for whole peoples to do so."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
The Grand Inquisitor and Flying Fish (p. 123)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Straw_Dogs_(book)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Straw Dogs (book)
65 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Straw Dogs (book) →
Related Quotes
"If Darwin's discovery had been made in a Taoist or Shinto, Hindu or animist culture it would very likely have become …"
"The destruction of the natural world is not the result of global capitalism, industrialisation, 'Western civilisation…"
"The human population growth that has taken place over the past few hundred years resembles nothing so much as the spi…"
"Pogroms are as old as Christendom; but without railways, the telegraph and poison gas there could have been no Holoca…"
"Cities are no more artificial than the hives of bees. The Internet is as natural as a spider's web. As Margulis and S…"
"The mass of mankind is ruled not by its intermittent moral sensations, still less by self-interest, but by the needs …"
"Religious fundamentalists see themselves as having remedies for the maladies of the modern world. In reality they are…"
"Scientific fundamentalists claim that science is the disinterested pursuit of truth. But representing science in this…"
"Again, science has the power to silence heretics. Today it is the only institution that can claim authority. Like the…"
"Most people today think they belong to a species that can be master of its destiny. This is faith, not science. We do…"