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About this quote

What does it mean?
Destruction hides behind respectable disguises like clergy, lawyers, and rulers.
In plain terms
Destruction wears masks of important people like bishops and lawyers.
What can you take from it?
Destruction often hides behind respectable masks.

Where it applies

  • social critique
  • power analysis
  • institutional reform

Putting it to work

  • question authority figures
  • expose hidden harms
  • challenge hypocrisy

Questions to consider

  • Who hides destruction behind authority?
  • How do we see through social masks?

Another view

The quote generalizes all institutions as destructive which may ignore their protective roles.

More from Percy Bysshe Shelley

  1. All were fat; and well they might Be in admirable plight, For one by one, and two by two, He tossed them human hearts to chew.

    Permalink to quote #98
  2. Last came Anarchy: he rode On a white horse, splashed with blood; He was pale even to the lips, Like Death in the Apocalypse.

    Permalink to quote #100
  3. I met Murder on the way - He had a mask like Castlereagh - Very smooth he looked, yet grim; Seven blood-hounds followed him.

    Permalink to quote #97

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