--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The horse has such a docile nature, that…" description: "\"The horse has such a docile nature, that he would always rather do right the wrong, if he can only be taught to distinguish one from the other.\" — Geor..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d9/george-w-melville-81314_docile_the-horse-has-such-a-docile-nature-that_56308.png" --- # The horse has such a docile nature, that he would always… ![“The horse has such a docile nature, that he would always rather do right the wrong, if he can only be taught to distinguish one from the other.” quote by George W. Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d9/george-w-melville-81314_docile_the-horse-has-such-a-docile-nature-that_56308.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d9/george-w-melville-81314_docile_the-horse-has-such-a-docile-nature-that_56308.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d9/george-w-melville-81314_docile_the-horse-has-such-a-docile-nature-that_56308.png) > “The horse has such a docile nature, that he would always rather do right the wrong, if he can only be taught to distinguish one from the other.” George W. Melville ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A docile horse prefers correcting mistakes when taught to differentiate right from wrong, highlighting the value of guidance over innate judgment. **In simple terms:** Guidance shapes moral discernment. Key Takeaway Teach to distinguish right and wrong. Themes ethics learning animal behavior humility education Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type aphorism reflective When to use this quote - educational settings - animal training - parenting - leadership coaching Key Concepts moral development training perception Practical Applications - moral education curricula - animal behavior studies Questions to Reflect On - How does instruction influence ethical choices? - Can innate temperament be overridden by learning? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Horse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horse/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) ## Related quotes > [Schoolchildren are not taught how to distinguish accurate information from inaccurate information online - surely there are ways to design web-browsers to help with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-rheingold/schoolchildren-are-not-taught-how-to-distinguish-accurate-information/) [Howard Rheingold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-rheingold/) > [“We grow up being told to do this and told to do that because it's the 'right' thing to do. If we did something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-lynott/we-grow-up-being-told-to-do-this-and-told-to-do-that-because-it-s-the/) Joshua Lynott > [I was raised in a working class family of Baptist faith, and I went to college on a church scholarship where early teachings were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-gephardt/i-was-raised-in-a-working-class-family-of-baptist-faith-and-i-went-to/) [Dick Gephardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-gephardt/) > [My private tragedy, which cannot, and indeed should not, be anybody's concern, is that I had to abandon my natural idiom, my untrammeled, rich,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/my-private-tragedy-which-cannot-and-indeed-should-not-be-anybody-s/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [Why are you so docile when you give up your child to a government agent called a schoolteacher?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/why-are-you-so-docile-when-you-give-up-your-child-to-a-government/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [We would be better off thinking of nature as a tiger than as a docile and compliant automaton that can never threaten our survival.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruno-latour/we-would-be-better-off-thinking-of-nature-as-a-tiger-than-as-a-docile/) [Bruno Latour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruno-latour/) > [When we recognize the rod of a father, should we not show ourselves docile children rather than rebelliously desperate men who have been hardened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-calvin/when-we-recognize-the-rod-of-a-father-should-we-not-show-ourselves/) [John Calvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-calvin/) > [Some people would view Jackie Robinson as a very safe African-American, a docile figure who had a tendency to try to get along with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chadwick-boseman/some-people-would-view-jackie-robinson-as-a-very-safe-african/) [Chadwick Boseman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chadwick-boseman/) > [The lyricism of marginality may find inspiration in the image of the outlaw, the great social nomad, who prowls on the confines of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-lyricism-of-marginality-may-find-inspiration-in-the-image-of-the/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Sheep are not the docile, pleasant creatures of the pastoral idyll. Any countryman will tell you that. They are sly, occasionally vicious, pathologically stupid.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-harris/sheep-are-not-the-docile-pleasant-creatures-of-the-pastoral-idyll-any/) [Joanne Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-harris/) > [Milton almost requires a solemn service of music to be played before you enter upon him. But he brings his music, to which who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/milton-almost-requires-a-solemn-service-of-music-to-be-played-before/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I love this book! Cathy Malkasian's Percy Gloom swirls with echoes of cartoon landscapes from the past and present. You can almost hear Percy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-smith/i-love-this-book-cathy-malkasian-s-percy-gloom-swirls-with-echoes-of/) [Jeff Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-smith/) > [People are so docile right now. It is almost as if good government means when the politicians lie to us for our own good,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-bovard/people-are-so-docile-right-now-it-is-almost-as-if-good-government/) [James Bovard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-bovard/) > [It is the docile who achieve the most impossible things in this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/it-is-the-docile-who-achieve-the-most-impossible-things-in-this-world/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [The plain fact is that education is itself a form of propaganda - a deliberate scheme to outfit the pupil, not with the capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-plain-fact-is-that-education-is-itself-a-form-of-propaganda-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by George W. Melville > [There is no basis for the ardent hopes and positive statements made as to the safe and successful use of the dirigible balloon or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-melville/there-is-no-basis-for-the-ardent-hopes-and-positive-statements-made/) George W. Melville > [If men must die, why not in honorable pursuit of knowledge? Far be it that our ideas of manhood should be dwarfed to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-melville/if-men-must-die-why-not-in-honorable-pursuit-of-knowledge-far-be-it/) George W. Melville Explore all 3 George W. Melville quotes ## More Docile quotes > [The plain fact is that education is itself a form of propaganda - a deliberate scheme to outfit the pupil, not with the capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-plain-fact-is-that-education-is-itself-a-form-of-propaganda-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is the docile who achieve the most impossible things in this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/it-is-the-docile-who-achieve-the-most-impossible-things-in-this-world/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [People are so docile right now. It is almost as if good government means when the politicians lie to us for our own good,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-bovard/people-are-so-docile-right-now-it-is-almost-as-if-good-government/) [James Bovard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-bovard/) > [I love this book! Cathy Malkasian's Percy Gloom swirls with echoes of cartoon landscapes from the past and present. You can almost hear Percy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-smith/i-love-this-book-cathy-malkasian-s-percy-gloom-swirls-with-echoes-of/) [Jeff Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-smith/) > [Milton almost requires a solemn service of music to be played before you enter upon him. But he brings his music, to which who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/milton-almost-requires-a-solemn-service-of-music-to-be-played-before/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Sheep are not the docile, pleasant creatures of the pastoral idyll. Any countryman will tell you that. They are sly, occasionally vicious, pathologically stupid.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-harris/sheep-are-not-the-docile-pleasant-creatures-of-the-pastoral-idyll-any/) [Joanne Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-harris/) > [The lyricism of marginality may find inspiration in the image of the outlaw, the great social nomad, who prowls on the confines of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-lyricism-of-marginality-may-find-inspiration-in-the-image-of-the/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Some people would view Jackie Robinson as a very safe African-American, a docile figure who had a tendency to try to get along with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chadwick-boseman/some-people-would-view-jackie-robinson-as-a-very-safe-african/) [Chadwick Boseman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chadwick-boseman/) > [When we recognize the rod of a father, should we not show ourselves docile children rather than rebelliously desperate men who have been hardened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-calvin/when-we-recognize-the-rod-of-a-father-should-we-not-show-ourselves/) [John Calvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-calvin/) > [We would be better off thinking of nature as a tiger than as a docile and compliant automaton that can never threaten our survival.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruno-latour/we-would-be-better-off-thinking-of-nature-as-a-tiger-than-as-a-docile/) [Bruno Latour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruno-latour/) > [Why are you so docile when you give up your child to a government agent called a schoolteacher?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/why-are-you-so-docile-when-you-give-up-your-child-to-a-government/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [My private tragedy, which cannot, and indeed should not, be anybody's concern, is that I had to abandon my natural idiom, my untrammeled, rich,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/my-private-tragedy-which-cannot-and-indeed-should-not-be-anybody-s/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [I was very quiet, very shy and docile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ang-lee/i-was-very-quiet-very-shy-and-docile/) [Ang Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ang-lee/) > [The Seal, she lounges like a bride,Much too docile, there's no doubt;Madame Récamier, on side,(if such she has), and bottom out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/djuna-barnes/the-seal-she-lounges-like-a-bride-much-too-docile-there-s-no-doubt/) [Djuna Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/djuna-barnes/) > [His laws once broken, His justice and the very nature of those laws bring the immutable retribution; but if we turn penitently to Him,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gaskell/his-laws-once-broken-his-justice-and-the-very-nature-of-those-laws/) [Elizabeth Gaskell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gaskell/) Browse all 77 Docile quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The horse has such a docile nature, that he would always rather do right the wrong, if he can only be taught to distinguish one from the other.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George W. 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