Your Englishman, confronted by something abnormal will always pretend that it isn't there. If he can't pretend that, he will look through the object, or round it, or above it or below it, or in any direction except into it. If, however, you force him to look into it, he will at once pretend that he sees the object not for what it is but for something that he would like it to be.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- It suggests English people often ignore uncomfortable truths or distort them to fit their preferred view rather than facing reality.
- In plain terms
- People often avoid looking at unpleasant truths and instead pretend things are different.
- What can you take from it?
- Avoidance changes how we see reality.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Do we all avoid uncomfortable truths?
- How does culture shape perception?
Another view
It may oversimplify a complex national character into a stereotype.
More from James Agate
Shaw's plays are the price we pay for Shaw's prefaces.
Permalink to quote #2 A professional is a man who can do his job when he doesn't feel like it; an amateur is one who can't when he does feel like it.
Permalink to quote #3 Perhaps, after all, there is something in the theory that only the ultra-busy can find time for everything.
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
Laugh if you want to / Or say you don't care / If you cannot see it / You think it's not there / It doesn't work that way.
DevoDevo quote #7 When I saw the newspaper headline 'Gas Chamber Expert Captured' and an American lieutenant explained it to me, I was pale in amazement. How can they say such t…
Ernst KaltenbrunnerErnst Kaltenbrunner quote #8 There are things in Russia which are not as they seem.
Georgy ZhukovGeorgy Zhukov quote #9