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Quote by Aldous Huxley

Work

Brave New World

Written by Aldous Huxley, this seminal work delves into themes of societal control, consumerism, and the loss of individuality through a vivid portrayal of a world where people are conditioned from birth to conform to their predetermined roles. more

Author

Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley was an English writer and philosopher, renowned for his dystopian novel 'Brave New World'. Born on July 26, 1894, in Godalming, Surrey, England, he was the younger brother of the poet and critic Leonard Huxley. Huxley's works frequently delved into the interplay of science, politics, and philosophy, and he was a prominent figure in the literary movement known as the 'Lost Generation'. He passed away on November 22, 1963. more

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“In my genitor’s home, too, there were meetings of people who, like him, hoped that the tribunes would hold out and who more or less had reasons for their hopes. They tried to raise each other’s spirits; they heard more or less sensible things. I could judge them from my perspective as an anarch, who, although personally indifferent to the whole business, found it fascinating as a historic issue. Moreover, I may have been the only person who was not afraid. I relished what I was listening to, like Stendhal on such an occasion. I appreciate him also as a historian. Now I am not putting down fear. It is a foundation of physicality, indeed of physics. If the ground wobbles or if the house so much as threatens to collapse, one looks for the door. This, too, creates a selection – say, of those people who did not fall into the trap.”

“Aragorn looked at them, and there was pity in his eyes rather than wrath; for these were young men from Rohan, from Westfold far away, or husbandmen from Lossarnach, and to them Mordor had been from childhood a name of evil, and yet unreal, a legend that had no part in their simple life; and now they walked like men in a hideous dream made true, and they understood not this war nor why fate should lead them to such a pass.”

“And your doubt can become a good quality if you train it. It must become knowing, it must become criticism. Ask it, whenever it wants to spoil something for you, why something is ugly, demand proofs from it, test it, and you will find it perhaps bewildered and embarrassed, perhaps also protesting. But don’t give in, insist on arguments, and act in this way, attentive and persistent, every single time, and the day will come when, instead of being a destroyer, it will become one of your best workers- perhaps the most intelligent of all the one that are building your life.”

“There is nothing more delicate than love in existence. Love is the most precious thing. Love is the opening of the heart. Love is the flowering of the heart. And the moment that the heart opens like a flower the whole existence becomes available to it. Then it can sway and dance with the wind, with the rain and with the sun. Suddenly all barriers disappear, and as you open up barriers evaporate. Opening up to existence like a flower means coming out of imprisonment. Otherwise we are living in a way closed to everything. The whole life of a closed person is fear-oriented. He is afraid to open to life. He is afraid to be open and vulnerable, because you may be hurt, cheated and deceived. It may be better to keep the windows and doors of the heart closed. But a closed life is bound to be miserable. Just as the closed life is fear-oriented, the open life is love-oriented. It means to trust existence. And through trusting existence, you can allow yourself to live and dance.”