“It is a curious thing… that every creed promises a paradise which will be absolutely uninhabitable for anyone of civilized taste.”

Source: Put Out More Flags (1942), Ch. 1: Autumn, § 7

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 "It is a curious thing… that every creed promises a paradise which will be absolutely uninhabitable for anyone of civili…" by Evelyn Waugh?
Evelyn Waugh photo
Evelyn Waugh 123
British writer 1903–1966

Related quotes

Clive Barker photo
Stephen Fry photo
Logan Pearsall Smith photo
Hendrik Werkman photo

“.. not the familiar paradise, but the unknown - somewhere in a continent that hasn’t been discovered yet by anyone from the civilized countries - I have escaped [in his prints! ] because it is almost unbearable to be in our world.”

Hendrik Werkman (1882–1945) Dutch artist

version in original Dutch (origineel citaat van Hendrik Werkman, in het Nederlands): ..niet het bekende paradijs, maar het onbekende, ergens in een werelddeel dat nog door geen mensch uit de cultuurstaten is ontdekt – daarheen ben ik gevlucht [in zijn prenten!] omdat het in onze wereld haast niet meer uit te houden is.
in his letter (nr. 143) to Julia Henkels, 15 July 1942; as cited in H. N. Werkman - Leven & Werk - 1882-1945, ed. A. de Vries, J. van der Spek, D. Sijens, M. Jansen; WBooks, Groninger Museum / Stichting Werkman, 2015 (transl: Fons Heijnsbroek), p. 120
Werkman is referring to his series prints 'Vrouweneiland / Women-island', D-288 - D-311, he made in 1942]
1940's

Henry Adams photo
Karl Popper photo

“Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell.”

Karl Popper (1902–1994) Austrian-British philosopher of science

As quoted in In Passing: Condolences and Complaints on Death, Dying, and Related Disappointments (2005) by Jon Winokur, p. 144

“Although most religions promise paradise after death, most collectivists, especially Marxists, preach paradise on earth, but through means rarely considered heavenly.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 62

Thomas Merton photo
Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas photo

“Yielding more wholesome food than all the messes
That now taste-curious wanton plenty dresses.”

Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544–1590) French writer

Second Week, First Day, Part i. Compare: "Herbs, and other country messes, Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses", John Milton, L'Allegro, line 85.
La Seconde Semaine (1584)

Related topics