They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker likens weekly media scrutiny to a coroner’s inquest that judges and damages reputations.
- In plain terms
- Media acts like a coroner’s inquest on reputations.
- What can you take from it?
- Public criticism can destroy reputations.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does media scrutiny affect personal lives?
- What responsibility do journalists have?
Another view
The metaphor may overstate the fairness of media processes.
More from William Congreve
Vile and ingrate! too late thou shalt repent The base Injustice thou hast done my Love: Yes, thou shalt know, spite of thy past Distress, And all those Ills wh…
Permalink to quote #23 Say what you will, tis better to be left than never to have been loved.
Permalink to quote #25 Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak. I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd, And, as with living Souls, hav…
Permalink to quote #22
Related quotes
The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him. That remark in itself wouldn't make any sense if quoted as it stands.
Robert BenchleyRobert Benchley quote #9 If we were to do the Second Coming of Christ in color for a full hour, there would be a considerable number of stations which would decline to carry it on the …
Edward R. MurrowEdward R. Murrow quote #11 Can it be a coincidence that, say, in the Sun newspaper, the ideal of female beauty would seem to be the body - the overdeveloped body - of a nubile woman and,…
Alan MooreAlan Moore quote #32