--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And it did certainly appear that the…" description: "\"“And it did certainly appear that the prophets had put the people (engaged in the old game of Cheat the Prophet) in a quite unprecedented difficulty. I..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b13/g-k-chesterton-224_wild-things_and-it-did-certainly-appear-that-the-pro_1820634.jpg" --- # And it did certainly appear that the prophets had put the… ![“And it did certainly appear that the prophets had put the people (engaged in the old game of Cheat the Prophet) in a quite unprecedented difficulty. It seemed really hard to do anything without fulfilling some of their prophecies. But there was, nevertheless, in the eyes of labourers in the…” quote by G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b13/g-k-chesterton-224_wild-things_and-it-did-certainly-appear-that-the-pro_1820634.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b13/g-k-chesterton-224_wild-things_and-it-did-certainly-appear-that-the-pro_1820634.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b13/g-k-chesterton-224_wild-things_and-it-did-certainly-appear-that-the-pro_1820634.jpg) > ““And it did certainly appear that the prophets had put the people (engaged in the old game of Cheat the Prophet) in a quite unprecedented difficulty. It seemed really hard to do anything without fulfilling some of their prophecies. But there was, nevertheless, in the eyes of labourers in the streets, of peasants in the fields, of sailors and children, and especially women, a strange look that kept the wise men in a perfect fever of doubt. They could not fathom the motionless mirth in their eyes. They still had something up their sleeve; they were still playing the game of Cheat the Prophet. Then the wise men grew like wild things, and swayed hither and thither, crying, "What can it be? What can it be? What will London be like a century hence? Is there anything we have not thought of? Houses upside down--more hygienic, perhaps? Men walking on hands--make feet flexible, don't you know? Moon ... motor-cars ... no heads…" And so they swayed and wondered until they died and were buried nicely.”” [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage sat how people cling to prophecy, yet ordinary folk imagine absurd futures, exposing the limits of certainty and the humor in speculation. **In simple terms:** People cling to prophecy while imagining wild futures. Key Takeaway Question assumptions and stay open to unexpected possibilities. Themes prophecy uncertainty imagination humor Mood ironic playful thought‑provoking Type satirical philosophical literary When to use this quote - urban planning - technology forecasts - political predictions - creative writing Key Concepts skepticism social commentary future studies Questions to Reflect On - What does this say about our reliance on predictions? - How can humor reveal hidden doubts? A Different Perspective Speculation can become self‑defeating when it ignores practical realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Prophets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prophets/) [Wild things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wild-things/) [Wise men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wise-men/) ## Related quotes > [“The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/the-human-race-to-which-so-many-of-my-readers-belong-has-been-playing/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [I understand from what the Lord has revealed to us through the prophets that people are his greatest concern. We are his children. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-h-dunn/i-understand-from-what-the-lord-has-revealed-to-us-through-the/) [Paul H. Dunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-h-dunn/) > [Prophet just means intellectual. They were people giving geopolitical analysis, moral lessons, that sort of thing. We call them intellectuals today. There were the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/prophet-just-means-intellectual-they-were-people-giving-geopolitical/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [“The interesting thing about prophets is that most people don't listen to them. 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The more you do, the stronger they get, until they’re strong enough to run into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-golightly/you-mustn-t-give-your-heart-to-a-wild-thing-the-more-you-do-the/) [Holly Golightly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-golightly/) > [But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-who-knows-what-she-spoke-to-the-darkness-alone-in-the-bitter/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The more I read, the more I felt connected across time to other lives and deeper sympathies. I felt less isolated. I wasn’t floating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/the-more-i-read-the-more-i-felt-connected-across-time-to-other-lives/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [A wild thing may say wild things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abigail-williams/a-wild-thing-may-say-wild-things/) [Abigail Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abigail-williams/) > [I've never seen a wild thing feel sorry for itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/i-ve-never-seen-a-wild-thing-feel-sorry-for-itself/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [“The wild things and places belong to all of us. So while I can't fix the bigger problems of race in the United States…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-drew-lanham/the-wild-things-and-places-belong-to-all-of-us-so-while-i-can-t-fix/) [J. Drew Lanham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-drew-lanham/) > [“I carried with me into the West End Bar, the White Horse Tavern, a long list of things I would never do: I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-roiphe/i-carried-with-me-into-the-west-end-bar-the-white-horse-tavern-a-long/) [Anne Roiphe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-roiphe/) > [It was great to be the rock comic, the shock comic. But after you've played Giants Stadium with Bon Jovi in front of 82,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kinison/it-was-great-to-be-the-rock-comic-the-shock-comic-but-after-you-ve/) [Sam Kinison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kinison/) > [ I got to a happier point and then started making a record \[Wild Things\]. I don't mind at all that it sounds like LA,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ladyhawke/i-got-to-a-happier-point-and-then-started-making-a-record-wild-things/) [Ladyhawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ladyhawke/) > [I'm the perfect kind of personality for making YouTube videos. I deal in short attention span theater. I do wild things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-o/i-m-the-perfect-kind-of-personality-for-making-youtube-videos-i-deal/) [Steve-O](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-o/) ## More by G.K. Chesterton > [“I never use paradox. The statements I make are wearisome and obvious common sense. I have even been driven to the tedium of reading…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/i-never-use-paradox-the-statements-i-make-are-wearisome-and-obvious/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“Nothing, again, could be more prosaic and impenetrable than the domestic energies of Miss Diana Duke. But Innocent had somehow blundered on the discovery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/nothing-again-could-be-more-prosaic-and-impenetrable-than-the/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“The mass of men have been forced to be gay about the little things, but sad about the big ones. Nevertheless (I offer my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/the-mass-of-men-have-been-forced-to-be-gay-about-the-little-things/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“ask yourself how many people you have met who grumbled at a thing as incurable, and how many who attacked it as curable? How…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/ask-yourself-how-many-people-you-have-met-who-grumbled-at-a-thing-as/) [G.K. 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Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“There was a short railway official travelling up to the terminus, three fairly short market-gardeners picked up two stations afterwards, one very short widow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/there-was-a-short-railway-official-travelling-up-to-the-terminus/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/humility-is-the-mother-of-giants-one-sees-great-things-from-the/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/anything-worth-doing-is-worth-doing-badly/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/there-exists-in-such-a-case-a-certain-institution-or-law-let-us-say/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“Man, by a blind instinct, knew that if once things were wildly questioned, reason could be questioned first. The authority of priests to absolve,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/man-by-a-blind-instinct-knew-that-if-once-things-were-wildly/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“It is idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith. Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/it-is-idle-to-talk-always-of-the-alternative-of-reason-and-faith/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“But in order that life should be a story or romance to us, it is necessary that a great part of it, at any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/but-in-order-that-life-should-be-a-story-or-romance-to-us-it-is/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“Buddhism seeks after God with the largest conception it can find, the all-producing and all-absorbing One; Christianity seeks after God with the most elementary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/buddhism-seeks-after-god-with-the-largest-conception-it-can-find-the/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“Man is more himself, more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing and grief superficial.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/man-is-more-himself-more-manlike-when-joy-is-the-fundamental-thing/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) [Explore all 853 G.K. Chesterton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) ## More Prophets quotes > [The writings of latter-day prophets clearly teach that the sorrows and sufferings endured by Adam and Eve upon their leaving the Garden of Eden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-k-judd/the-writings-of-latter-day-prophets-clearly-teach-that-the-sorrows/) Daniel K Judd > [We are all at times unconscious prophets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/we-are-all-at-times-unconscious-prophets/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [“Old Testament prophets. ‘You savvy dis fetish thing?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/old-testament-prophets-you-savvy-dis-fetish-thing/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [True artists are prophets. I don't want to be that prophetic in that sense because it's so lonely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoko-ono/true-artists-are-prophets-i-don-t-want-to-be-that-prophetic-in-that/) [Yoko Ono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoko-ono/) > [The gifts that Yeshua left in the earth realm to enforce His authority were apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists. The gift that gets…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-pierce/the-gifts-that-yeshua-left-in-the-earth-realm-to-enforce-his/) [Chuck Pierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-pierce/) > [“The only clear expression of intellectual dissent from hydraulic despotism occurred in the southern half of the coastal lands of the eastern Mediterranean, called…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-f-cantor/the-only-clear-expression-of-intellectual-dissent-from-hydraulic/) [Norman F. Cantor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-f-cantor/) > [As a forecaster, Marx shared the common destiny of all prophets: to be belied by events.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunnar-myrdal/as-a-forecaster-marx-shared-the-common-destiny-of-all-prophets-to-be/) [Gunnar Myrdal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunnar-myrdal/) > [“If you're completely off your rocker and have delusions of grandeur in which your personal existence is of special significance to the rest of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-m-wolfe/if-you-re-completely-off-your-rocker-and-have-delusions-of-grandeur/) [Edward M. Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-m-wolfe/) > [“In the case of Michel Angelo we have an artist who with brush and chisel portrayed literally thousands of human forms; but with this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-carpenter/in-the-case-of-michel-angelo-we-have-an-artist-who-with-brush-and/) [Edward Carpenter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-carpenter/) > [“While it is important on the one hand that laxness in dealing with sin be avoided, it is equally important on the other to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-g-white/while-it-is-important-on-the-one-hand-that-laxness-in-dealing-with/) [Ellen G. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-g-white/) > [The prophets of doom, in my experience, are generally ignored and usually right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/the-prophets-of-doom-in-my-experience-are-generally-ignored-and/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [“We sing and have done so constantly, "We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet to guide us in these latter days." \[Hymns, no.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heber-j-grant/we-sing-and-have-done-so-constantly-we-thank-thee-o-god-for-a-prophet/) [Heber J. Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heber-j-grant/) > [The poor tell us who we are, the prophets tell us who we could be, so we hide the poor, and kill the prophets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-berrigan/the-poor-tell-us-who-we-are-the-prophets-tell-us-who-we-could-be-so/) [Philip Berrigan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-berrigan/) > [Our first name was the Poetical Prophets before we changed it to Mobb Deep, and when I look back on it now, that was,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prodigy/our-first-name-was-the-poetical-prophets-before-we-changed-it-to-mobb/) [Prodigy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prodigy/) > [Prophets are so dangerous because they cry in season and out of season, politely and impolitely, loud and long.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-d-chittister/prophets-are-so-dangerous-because-they-cry-in-season-and-out-of/) [Joan D. Chittister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-d-chittister/) [Browse all 291 Prophets quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prophets/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“And it did certainly appear that the prophets had put the people (engaged in the old game of Cheat the Prophet) in a quite unprecedented difficulty. It seemed really hard to do anything without fulfilling some of their prophecies. But there was, nevertheless, in the eyes of labourers in the streets, of peasants in the fields, of sailors and children, and especially women, a strange look that kept the wise men in a perfect fever of doubt. They could not fathom the motionless mirth in their eyes. They still had something up their sleeve; they were still playing the game of Cheat the Prophet. Then the wise men grew like wild things, and swayed hither and thither, crying, \"What can it be? What can it be? What will London be like a century hence? 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