She dealt with moral problems the way a cleaver deals with meat: and in this case she had made up her mind.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- She tackles ethical dilemmas decisively, like a butcher cutting meat, and has already decided her stance.
- In plain terms
- She deals with morals as bluntly as a cleaver.
- What can you take from it?
- Decisiveness can simplify complex moral choices.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When is decisiveness harmful?
- How can you balance firmness with nuance?
Another view
A blunt approach may ignore nuance.
More from James Joyce
Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.
Permalink to quote #29 He was not sure what idea he wished to express but the thought that a poetic moment had touched upon him took life within him like an infant hope. He stepped o…
Permalink to quote #31 But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.
Permalink to quote #28
Related quotes
I do not, therefore, need any penetrating acuteness to see what I have to do in order that my volition be morally good. Inexperienced in the course of the worl…
Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant quote #16 You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.
Lyndon JohnsonLyndon Johnson quote #26 The great fault of all ethics hitherto has been that they believed themselves to have to deal only with the relations of man to man. In reality, however, the q…
Albert SchweitzerAlbert Schweitzer quote #1