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A review by ella_holden_
Utopia by Thomas More
- p.viii ‘the only time i ever get to myself is what i steal from sleep’
- p.19 ‘isn’t this conception of absolute justice absolutely unjust?’
- p.29 ‘a happy state of society will never be achieved until philosophers are kings’
- p.39 ‘you wouldn’t abandon ship in a storm just because you couldn’t control the winds’. ‘what you can’t put right you must try to make as little wrong as possible’
- p.41 ‘he sees everyone else rushing into the street and getting soaked in the pouring rain. He knows if he went out too, he’d merely get equally wet. So he just stays indoors himself, and, as he can’t do anything about other people’s stupidity, comforts himself with the thought: ‘Well, i’m all right, anyway.’
- p.74 ‘the Utopians fail to understand why anyone should be so fascinated by the dull gleam of a tiny bit of stone, when he has all the stars in the sky to look at’. ‘Nor can they understand why a totally useless substance like gold should now, all over the world, be considered far more important than human beings, who gave it such value as it has’
- p.79 ‘Utopians therefore regard the enjoyment of life as the natural object of all human efforts’
- p.84 ‘there are also pleasures which satisfy no organic need, and relieve no previous discomfort. They merely act, in a mysterious but quite unmistakeable way, directly on our senses, and monopolise their reactions. Such is the pleasure of music.’
- p.93 ‘in fact you’re really leading a sort of posthumous existence, so why go on feeding germs?’
- p.102 ‘human beings are far more effectively united by kindness than by contracts, by feelings than by words’
- p.114 ‘there is a single divine power…diffused throughout this universe of ours, not as a physical substance, but as an active force. This power they call ‘The Parent’’
- p.117 ‘God made different people believe different things, because he wanted to be worshipped in many different ways’
- p.121 ‘the more they make slaves of themselves, the more everybody respects them’
- p.19 ‘isn’t this conception of absolute justice absolutely unjust?’
- p.29 ‘a happy state of society will never be achieved until philosophers are kings’
- p.39 ‘you wouldn’t abandon ship in a storm just because you couldn’t control the winds’. ‘what you can’t put right you must try to make as little wrong as possible’
- p.41 ‘he sees everyone else rushing into the street and getting soaked in the pouring rain. He knows if he went out too, he’d merely get equally wet. So he just stays indoors himself, and, as he can’t do anything about other people’s stupidity, comforts himself with the thought: ‘Well, i’m all right, anyway.’
- p.74 ‘the Utopians fail to understand why anyone should be so fascinated by the dull gleam of a tiny bit of stone, when he has all the stars in the sky to look at’. ‘Nor can they understand why a totally useless substance like gold should now, all over the world, be considered far more important than human beings, who gave it such value as it has’
- p.79 ‘Utopians therefore regard the enjoyment of life as the natural object of all human efforts’
- p.84 ‘there are also pleasures which satisfy no organic need, and relieve no previous discomfort. They merely act, in a mysterious but quite unmistakeable way, directly on our senses, and monopolise their reactions. Such is the pleasure of music.’
- p.93 ‘in fact you’re really leading a sort of posthumous existence, so why go on feeding germs?’
- p.102 ‘human beings are far more effectively united by kindness than by contracts, by feelings than by words’
- p.114 ‘there is a single divine power…diffused throughout this universe of ours, not as a physical substance, but as an active force. This power they call ‘The Parent’’
- p.117 ‘God made different people believe different things, because he wanted to be worshipped in many different ways’
- p.121 ‘the more they make slaves of themselves, the more everybody respects them’