--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There was something decidedly unpleasant…" description: "\"“There was something decidedly unpleasant about him, sinister, at the same time absurd, that combination of the ludicrous and alarming soon to be widel..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fa/anthony-powell-2659_quote_there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant_2231358.jpg" --- # There was something decidedly unpleasant about him… ![“There was something decidedly unpleasant about him, sinister, at the same time absurd, that combination of the ludicrous and alarming soon to be widely experienced by contact with those set in authority in wartime.” quote by Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fa/anthony-powell-2659_quote_there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant_2231358.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fa/anthony-powell-2659_quote_there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant_2231358.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fa/anthony-powell-2659_quote_there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant_2231358.jpg) > ““There was something decidedly unpleasant about him, sinister, at the same time absurd, that combination of the ludicrous and alarming soon to be widely experienced by contact with those set in authority in wartime.”” [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Authority in wartime can be both absurd and terrifying, revealing the dangerous mix of ridicule and fear. **In simple terms:** Power can be absurd and scary. Key Takeaway Question authority and its absurdities. Themes authority war absurdity fear power Mood critical serious Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - political activism - media literacy - historical analysis Key Concepts psychology of power authoritarianism social critique Questions to Reflect On - How does absurdity weaken resistance? - When does ridicule become dangerous? A Different Perspective Not all absurdity is harmless; it can mask danger. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alarming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alarming/) [Authority Wartime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authority-wartime-5021087/) [Decidedly Unpleasant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decidedly-unpleasant-5021086/) [Ludicrous Alarming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ludicrous-alarming-5021085/) [Unpleasant Sinister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unpleasant-sinister-5021084/) ## Related quotes > [I've had an alarming amount of concussions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-reynolds/i-ve-had-an-alarming-amount-of-concussions/) [Ryan Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-reynolds/) > [I'd be totally exhausted by mid-afternoon, and I could barely climb the stairs at home. It was particularly alarming because all my life I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-crawford/i-d-be-totally-exhausted-by-mid-afternoon-and-i-could-barely-climb/) [Michael Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-crawford/) > [Through my newspaper comic strip, public speaking, and filmmaking, I try to tell as many people as possible, of all ages and from all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-toomey/through-my-newspaper-comic-strip-public-speaking-and-filmmaking-i-try/) [Jim Toomey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-toomey/) > [Once food gets into our fridges, larders and kitchens, ensuring that it gets used up before going off seems like an obvious thing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tristram-stuart/once-food-gets-into-our-fridges-larders-and-kitchens-ensuring-that-it/) [Tristram Stuart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tristram-stuart/) > [It's kind of alarming for me to realize that, when I'm writing stories about times I remember, it's already historical fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/it-s-kind-of-alarming-for-me-to-realize-that-when-i-m-writing-stories/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [We are losing privacy at an alarming rate - we have none left.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcafee/we-are-losing-privacy-at-an-alarming-rate-we-have-none-left/) [John McAfee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcafee/) > [With so much evidence of depleting natural resources, toxic waste, climate change, irreparable harm to our food chain and rapidly increasing instances of natural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-berg/with-so-much-evidence-of-depleting-natural-resources-toxic-waste/) [Yehuda Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-berg/) > [The violence in New Orleans is erupting and it's continuing to grow at an alarming rate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyrann-mathieu/the-violence-in-new-orleans-is-erupting-and-it-s-continuing-to-grow/) [Tyrann Mathieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyrann-mathieu/) > [The committee's finding that China stole sensitive technology from U.S. weapons research labs is alarming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bass/the-committee-s-finding-that-china-stole-sensitive-technology-from-u/) [Charles Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bass/) > [In terms of security for wildlife and our society, it's an incredibly alarming situation, and we need to address that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronika-varekova/in-terms-of-security-for-wildlife-and-our-society-it-s-an-incredibly/) [Veronika Varekova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronika-varekova/) > [In all the new states of the Union, land monopolization has gone on at an alarming rate, but in none of them so fast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-george/in-all-the-new-states-of-the-union-land-monopolization-has-gone-on-at/) [Henry George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-george/) > [We are being wiped off the face of this earth At an extremely alarming rate And even more alarming is the fact That we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/we-are-being-wiped-off-the-face-of-this-earth-at-an-extremely/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [It would have been very alarming - morally, and in other ways too - if an attack of that nature, the 11 September attacks,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-would-have-been-very-alarming-morally-and-in-other-ways-too-if-an/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [There's a diversion between economic reality - integration, global village, everybody depending on everybody else - and cultural reality, which is people feeling invaded,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duncan-green/there-s-a-diversion-between-economic-reality-integration-global/) [Duncan Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duncan-green/) > [Young Americans are dropping out of religion at an alarming rate of five to six times the historic rate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-d-putnam/young-americans-are-dropping-out-of-religion-at-an-alarming-rate-of/) [Robert D. Putnam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-d-putnam/) ## More by Anthony Powell > [I was impressed for the ten thousandth time by the fact that literature illuminates life only for those to whom books are a necessity.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/i-was-impressed-for-the-ten-thousandth-time-by-the-fact-that/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“Like everything that's any good, it has about twenty different meanings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/like-everything-that-s-any-good-it-has-about-twenty-different-meanings/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“I have absolutely no histrionic talent, none at all, a constitutional handicap in almost all undertakings of life;but then, after all, plenty of actors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/i-have-absolutely-no-histrionic-talent-none-at-all-a-constitutional/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“The crematorium was a blaze of sunshine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/the-crematorium-was-a-blaze-of-sunshine/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [Parents. . . are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don't fulfil the promise of their early years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/parents-are-sometimes-a-bit-of-a-disappointment-to-their-children/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“Her expression was oafish, but it was on the whole this quality that gave her face a certain retentive efficacy. She had the look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/her-expression-was-oafish-but-it-was-on-the-whole-this-quality-that/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“Enormous simplifications were possibly necessary to carry a deeper truth than lay on the surface of a mass of unsorted detail.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/enormous-simplifications-were-possibly-necessary-to-carry-a-deeper/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“I hate anything superficial. But I will take the book and look at it, and tell you what I think of the writing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/i-hate-anything-superficial-but-i-will-take-the-book-and-look-at-it/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“It is rather an occasion, darling,’ said Moreland, vexed at these objections. ‘After all, I am noted among composers for the smallness of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/it-is-rather-an-occasion-darling-said-moreland-vexed-at-these/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“There seemed no particular object in avoiding banality from the start, as the evening showed every sign of developing into a banal one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/there-seemed-no-particular-object-in-avoiding-banality-from-the-start/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [Dinner at the Huntercombes possessed only two dramatic features: the wine was a farce and the food a tragedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/dinner-at-the-huntercombes-possessed-only-two-dramatic-features-the/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“Even then I did not recognise the quest for power.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/even-then-i-did-not-recognise-the-quest-for-power/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“Some of the best of us are quite unambitious.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/some-of-the-best-of-us-are-quite-unambitious/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [One passes through the world knowing few, if any, of the important things about even the people with whom one has been from time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/one-passes-through-the-world-knowing-few-if-any-of-the-important/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [“He stood pondering this flat, forthright declaration of anti-simianism on Miss Weedon’s part. The notion that some people might not like monkeys was evidently…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/he-stood-pondering-this-flat-forthright-declaration-of-anti-simianism/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) [Explore all 156 Anthony Powell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) ## More Alarming quotes > [I've had an alarming amount of concussions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-reynolds/i-ve-had-an-alarming-amount-of-concussions/) [Ryan Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-reynolds/) > [There's a diversion between economic reality - integration, global village, everybody depending on everybody else - and cultural reality, which is people feeling invaded,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duncan-green/there-s-a-diversion-between-economic-reality-integration-global/) [Duncan Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duncan-green/) > [It would have been very alarming - morally, and in other ways too - if an attack of that nature, the 11 September attacks,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-would-have-been-very-alarming-morally-and-in-other-ways-too-if-an/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [We are being wiped off the face of this earth At an extremely alarming rate And even more alarming is the fact That we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/we-are-being-wiped-off-the-face-of-this-earth-at-an-extremely/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [In all the new states of the Union, land monopolization has gone on at an alarming rate, but in none of them so fast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-george/in-all-the-new-states-of-the-union-land-monopolization-has-gone-on-at/) [Henry George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-george/) > [In terms of security for wildlife and our society, it's an incredibly alarming situation, and we need to address that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronika-varekova/in-terms-of-security-for-wildlife-and-our-society-it-s-an-incredibly/) [Veronika Varekova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronika-varekova/) > [The committee's finding that China stole sensitive technology from U.S. weapons research labs is alarming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bass/the-committee-s-finding-that-china-stole-sensitive-technology-from-u/) [Charles Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bass/) > [The violence in New Orleans is erupting and it's continuing to grow at an alarming rate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyrann-mathieu/the-violence-in-new-orleans-is-erupting-and-it-s-continuing-to-grow/) [Tyrann Mathieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyrann-mathieu/) > [With so much evidence of depleting natural resources, toxic waste, climate change, irreparable harm to our food chain and rapidly increasing instances of natural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-berg/with-so-much-evidence-of-depleting-natural-resources-toxic-waste/) [Yehuda Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-berg/) > [We are losing privacy at an alarming rate - we have none left.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcafee/we-are-losing-privacy-at-an-alarming-rate-we-have-none-left/) [John McAfee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcafee/) > [It's kind of alarming for me to realize that, when I'm writing stories about times I remember, it's already historical fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/it-s-kind-of-alarming-for-me-to-realize-that-when-i-m-writing-stories/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Once food gets into our fridges, larders and kitchens, ensuring that it gets used up before going off seems like an obvious thing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tristram-stuart/once-food-gets-into-our-fridges-larders-and-kitchens-ensuring-that-it/) [Tristram Stuart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tristram-stuart/) > [Through my newspaper comic strip, public speaking, and filmmaking, I try to tell as many people as possible, of all ages and from all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-toomey/through-my-newspaper-comic-strip-public-speaking-and-filmmaking-i-try/) [Jim Toomey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-toomey/) > [I'd be totally exhausted by mid-afternoon, and I could barely climb the stairs at home. It was particularly alarming because all my life I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-crawford/i-d-be-totally-exhausted-by-mid-afternoon-and-i-could-barely-climb/) [Michael Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-crawford/) > [Young Americans are dropping out of religion at an alarming rate of five to six times the historic rate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-d-putnam/young-americans-are-dropping-out-of-religion-at-an-alarming-rate-of/) [Robert D. Putnam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-d-putnam/) [Browse all 68 Alarming quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alarming/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There was something decidedly unpleasant about him, sinister, at the same time absurd, that combination of the ludicrous and alarming soon to be widely experienced by contact with those set in authority in wartime.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anthony Powell" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant-about-him-sinister-at-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Alarming" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant-about-him-sinister-at-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fa/anthony-powell-2659_quote_there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant_2231358.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fa/anthony-powell-2659_quote_there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant_2231358.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fa/anthony-powell-2659_quote_there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant_2231358.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There was something decidedly unpleasant about him, sinister, at the same time absurd, that combination of…” — Anthony Powell", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anthony Powell", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“There was something decidedly unpleasant about...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant-about-him-sinister-at-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/there-was-something-decidedly-unpleasant-about-him-sinister-at-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```