Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Human nature is not capable of staying in a continually exalted moral condition, leading to a decline from revolutionary ideals to money-getting.
In plain terms
People tend to move from moral ideals to focusing on making money.
What can you take from it?
Recognize that sustained moral excellence is not natural for most.

Where it applies

  • historical analysis
  • societal critique
  • ethical discussions

Putting it to work

  • expect material concerns to rise
  • critique moral decline

Questions to consider

  • Can society maintain moral standards?
  • Why do people prioritize money?

Another view

This view may be overly pessimistic about human potential for moral growth.

More from Voltairine de Cleyre

  1. We arrive at the point where we, looking over the hundred and twenty five years of independence, can see that the simple government conceived by the revolution…

    Permalink to quote #31
  2. The love of material ease has been, in the mass of men and permanently speaking, always greater than the love of liberty. Nine hundred and ninety nine women ou…

    Permalink to quote #33
  3. Private enterprise manages better all that to which it is equal. Anarchism declares that private enterprise, whether individual or cooperative, is equal to all…

    Permalink to quote #30

Related quotes

  1. To suppose such a thing possible as a society, in which men, who are able and willing to work, cannot support their families, and ought, with a great part of t…

    William CobbettWilliam Cobbett quote #6
  2. Headmaster: Mark my words, when a society has to resort to the lavatory for its humour, the writing is on the wall.

    Alan BennettAlan Bennett quote #10
  3. Aloof with hermit-eye I scan The present works of present man - A wild and dreamlike trade of blood and guile, Too foolish for a tear, too wicked for a smile!

    Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor Coleridge quote #11