There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them. Besides, to distrust words, and indict them for the horrors that might slumber unobtrusively within them - isn't this, after all, the true vocation of the intellectual?
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Trusting words unwarrantedly is more harmful than distrusting them. Intellectuals should indict words for the horrors that may hide within them.
- In plain terms
- It is safer to doubt words than to trust them blindly.
- What can you take from it?
- Be skeptical of language because it can hide harmful intentions.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you verify words?
- What horrors hide in language?
Another view
Excessive distrust can hinder necessary communication and trust.
More from Vaclav Havel
The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.
Permalink to quote #6 I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisio…
Permalink to quote #8 True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say?
Permalink to quote #5
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