“They did not stop to love each other in this life; they were so sure they had all eternity to do it in. The doctrine was an invention to enable men to act like dogs with clear consciences. Love could never come to full fruition till it was destroyed.”

Fraternity (1909)
Context: "To take life," went on the old man in a voice which, though charged with strong emotion, seemed to be speaking to itself, "was the chief mark of the insensate barbarism still prevailing in those days. It sprang from that most irreligious fetish, the belief in the permanence of the individual ego after death. From the worship of that fetish had come all the sorrows of the human race. … They did not stop to love each other in this life; they were so sure they had all eternity to do it in. The doctrine was an invention to enable men to act like dogs with clear consciences. Love could never come to full fruition till it was destroyed."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "They did not stop to love each other in this life; they were so sure they had all eternity to do it in. The doctrine wa…" by John Galsworthy?
John Galsworthy photo
John Galsworthy 48
English novelist and playwright 1867–1933

Related quotes

Frederick Douglass photo

“It is not uncommon to charge slaves with great treachery toward each other, but I must say I never loved, esteemed, or confided in men more than I did in these. They were as true as steel, and no band of brothers could be more loving.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1892), Part 1, Chapter 18: New Relations and Duties
1890s, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1892)
Context: It is not uncommon to charge slaves with great treachery toward each other, but I must say I never loved, esteemed, or confided in men more than I did in these. They were as true as steel, and no band of brothers could be more loving. There were no mean advantages taken of each other, as is sometimes the case where slaves are situated as we were, no tattling, no giving each other bad names to Mr. Freeland, and no elevating one at the expense of the other. We never undertook to do any thing of any importance which was likely to affect each other, without mutual consultation. We were generally a unit, and moved together. Thoughts and sentiments were exchanged between us which might well be called incendiary had they been known by our masters.

Justina Robson photo

“The gun is a consequence of our minds. If we were in love with peace, and had no will to destroy each other, there would be no gun.”

Source: Natural History (2003), Chapter 28 “Tom Speaks” (p. 291)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo
Amir Taheri photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Alice Hoffman photo
John Connolly photo

Related topics