The Wisdom Letter #236
4 quotes from William Golding (1911–1993)
✹ For today’s Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated four bite-sized quotes from the British novelist and playwright, William Golding (1911–1993), each paired with a philosophical question meant to provoke deep reflection:
Quote № 01:
“Basically I'm an optimist. Intellectually I can see man's balance is about fifty-fifty, and his chances of blowing himself up are about one to one. I can't see this any way but intellectually. I'm just emotionally unable to believe that he will do this. This means that I am by nature an optimist and by intellectual conviction a pessimist, I suppose.”
— William Golding
~ Follow-up Question:
The quote presents a division between emotional belief and intellectual reasoning. How does this reflect broader philosophical debates on the roles of reason and emotion in decision-making? Can emotional optimism ever be justified despite an intellectual conviction of likely failure?
Quote № 02:
“I can say here in America what I should not like to say at home; which is that I condemn and detest my country's faults precisely because I am so proud of her many virtues. One of our faults is to believe that evil is somewhere else and inherent in another nation. My book was to say: you think that now the war is over and an evil thing destroyed, you are safe because you are naturally kind and decent. But I know why the thing rose in Germany. I know it could happen in any country. It could happen here.”
— William Golding
~ Follow-up Question:
The statement “It could happen here” suggests that no society is immune to moral collapse. What historical and contemporary examples support this warning? How does this perspective challenge the idea that certain democratic institutions or cultural values make a country immune to authoritarianism or oppression?
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Quote № 03:
“Now we, if not in the spirit, have been caught up to see our earth, our mother, Gaia Mater, set like a jewel in space. We have no excuse now for supposing her riches inexhaustible nor the area we have to live on limitless because unbounded. We are the children of that great blue white jewel.”
— William Golding
~ Follow-up Question:
How does the imagery in this quote—Earth as a jewel, Gaia Mater, a finite home—contribute to environmental discourse? Can poetic and symbolic language be more effective in inspiring environmental action than scientific facts alone? Why or why not?
Quote № 04:
“The overall intention may be stated simply enough. Before the Second World War I believed in the perfectibility of social man; that a correct structure of society would produce goodwill; and that therefore you could remove all social ills by a reorganisation of society. It is possible that today I believe something of the same again; but after the war I did not because I was unable to. I had discovered what one man could do to another... I am thinking of the vileness beyond all words that went on, year after year, in the totalitarian states. It is bad enough to say that so many Jews were exterminated in this way and that, so many people liquidated — lovely, elegant word — but there were things done during that period from which I still have to avert my mind less I should be physically sick. They were not done by the headhunters of New Guinea or by some primitive tribe in the Amazon. They were done, skillfully, coldly, by educated men, doctors, lawyers, by men with a tradition of civilization behind them, to beings of their own kind.”
— William Golding
~ Follow-up Question:
The passage highlights the horror of realizing that mass atrocities were committed not by “savages” but by highly educated, civilized individuals. What does this imply about the role of culture, education, and ideology in enabling or preventing moral corruption? How does this challenge the assumption that progress in knowledge automatically leads to progress in morality?
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This is a deeply thought-provoking selection of quotes, and I find each one compelling in its own way. Here’s my reflection on them:
1️⃣ Optimism vs. Intellectual Pessimism
Golding's tension between emotional optimism and intellectual pessimism reminds me of the age-old debate in philosophy: can hope be rational? Spinoza and Nietzsche might argue that emotion is often an illusion, a veil over reality. Yet, Pascal might counter that sometimes, belief—irrational as it may seem—can be a survival mechanism. Is it foolish to hope against logic, or is hope itself a form of defiance?
2️⃣ The Illusion of Moral Superiority
The idea that "it could happen here" should terrify us more than it does. History has proven that atrocities are not the domain of a single culture, but a human possibility under the right (or wrong) conditions. This dismantles the comforting myth that democracy, education, or economic prosperity inherently inoculate a society from collapse. The fall of the Weimar Republic, McCarthyism, and even modern waves of political extremism are reminders that no nation is immune. What safeguards, then, are truly effective? And are they enough?
3️⃣ Earth as a Finite Jewel
Golding’s poetic rendering of the Earth contrasts with the cold data of environmental science, and in that contrast lies a question: does emotion drive action more effectively than logic? Neuroscience suggests that we are not persuaded by numbers, but by stories. If facts alone sufficed, climate change would not still be debated. Perhaps the power of metaphor—Gaia Mater, a fragile jewel—is the missing force in our discourse.
4️⃣ Civilization and Atrocity
The final quote is the most haunting. It echoes Arendt’s banality of evil—the unsettling truth that atrocities are often committed not by monsters, but by ordinary, educated people. This dismantles the naive belief that knowledge alone refines morality. If anything, history suggests the opposite: intelligence, when unmoored from ethical grounding, can rationalize horrors with chilling efficiency. The real question is, then: what kind of education prevents evil? And are we providing it?
Brilliant curation of quotes and questions—each one invites a spiral of thought. Would love to hear what others think!
Nerve hit... this is all snowballing towards the same atrocities in the UK and Europe. They are happening and its still the (supposedly) educated tweaking the rules towards totalitarianism. Lest we forget? I think they've just covered it up.