Would I if I could by pushing a button would I kill five thousand Chinamen if I could save my brother from anything. Well I was very fond of my brother and I could completely imagine his suffering and I replied that five thousand Chinamen were something I could not imagine and so it was not interesting. One has to remember that about imagination, that is when the world gets dull when everybody does not know what they can or what they cannot really imagine. ~ Ch. 3
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Stein highlights the limits of imagination, noting that imagining harm to strangers feels impossible compared to loved ones.
- In plain terms
- She says it is hard to imagine suffering for people you do not know.
- What can you take from it?
- Imagination often fails when empathy is distant.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does distance limit your empathy?
- Can you imagine harm to strangers?
Another view
Rational ethics can override imaginative limits.
More from Gertrude Stein
It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing. ~ Ch. 2
Permalink to quote #67 The minute you or anybody else knows what you are you are not it, you are what you or anybody else knows you are and as everything in living is made up of find…
Permalink to quote #69 And identity is funny being yourself is funny as you are never yourself to yourself except as you remember yourself and then of course you do not believe yours…
Permalink to quote #66
Related quotes
I rarely saw them as individuals. It was always a huge mass...they were naked, packed together, running, being driven with whips.
Franz StanglFranz Stangl quote #2 Everyone is entitled to commit murder in the imagination once in a while, not to mention lesser infractions.
Thomas NagelThomas Nagel quote #4 Compassion is the basis of all morality.
Arthur SchopenhauerArthur Schopenhauer quote #5