--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The trouble is that when most people are…" description: "\"The trouble is that when most people are apathetic ordinary people ... have to go too far, have to ruin their lives and be made an object of scorn just..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/jeanette-winterson-166_apathetic_the-trouble-is-that-when-most-people-are_2257893.png" --- # The trouble is that when most people are apathetic… ![“The trouble is that when most people are apathetic ordinary people ... have to go too far, have to ruin their lives and be made an object of scorn just to get the point across. Did they really think I'd rather be camping by a polluted river than sitting in my own flat with my things about me?” quote by Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/jeanette-winterson-166_apathetic_the-trouble-is-that-when-most-people-are_2257893.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/jeanette-winterson-166_apathetic_the-trouble-is-that-when-most-people-are_2257893.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/jeanette-winterson-166_apathetic_the-trouble-is-that-when-most-people-are_2257893.png) > “The trouble is that when most people are apathetic ordinary people ... have to go too far, have to ruin their lives and be made an object of scorn just to get the point across. Did they really think I'd rather be camping by a polluted river than sitting in my own flat with my things about me?” [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Highlights how societal apathy forces ordinary people into extreme actions, risking ruin and scorn to make a point. **In simple terms:** Apathy drives people to extremes. Key Takeaway Beware complacency’s cost. Themes social critique extremism conformity Mood critical provocative Type political philosophical When to use this quote - political protest - personal sacrifice - social movements Key Concepts moral responsibility activism Questions to Reflect On - When is radical action justified? - What alternatives exist to provoke change? A Different Perspective Extremes may not always be effective or ethical. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Camping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/camping/) [Ordinary people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary-people/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rivers/) [Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Even when the polls are open to all, Negroes have shown themselves too slow to exercise their voting privileges. There must be a concerted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/even-when-the-polls-are-open-to-all-negroes-have-shown-themselves-too/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [I've never bought the argument that people are apathetic about politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuka-umunna/i-ve-never-bought-the-argument-that-people-are-apathetic-about/) [Chuka Umunna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuka-umunna/) > [People listen for cues - when they are searching for a decision, they look to people they know. Young people can be apathetic in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hill-harper/people-listen-for-cues-when-they-are-searching-for-a-decision-they/) [Hill Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hill-harper/) > [Legacy media accuses young people of being apathetic while actively attempting to remove them from the discussion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hank-green/legacy-media-accuses-young-people-of-being-apathetic-while-actively/) [Hank Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hank-green/) > [People can be so apathetic. They continue to ignore the real people trapped in poverty and homelessness. It's almost maddening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-zuniga/people-can-be-so-apathetic-they-continue-to-ignore-the-real-people/) [Daphne Zuniga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-zuniga/) > [“If we wonder why people are so apathetic and casual about every eminently avoidable horror in the world – famine, war, disease, the seas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caitlin-moran/if-we-wonder-why-people-are-so-apathetic-and-casual-about-every/) [Caitlin Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caitlin-moran/) > [I'm not saying that people shouldn't go out to football games and drink beer and have a good time, I do it myself. But,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-jones/i-m-not-saying-that-people-shouldn-t-go-out-to-football-games-and/) [Alex Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-jones/) > [What is called “apathy” is, I believe, a feeling of helplessness on the part of the ordinary citizen, a feeling of impotence in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/what-is-called-apathy-is-i-believe-a-feeling-of-helplessness-on-the/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [A western buckaroo, I share his scorn for people who go camping by the book, relying on the authority of some half-assed assistant scoutmaster…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/a-western-buckaroo-i-share-his-scorn-for-people-who-go-camping-by-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“trouble with people is, they always think they have to talk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-stanton-hitchcock/trouble-with-people-is-they-always-think-they-have-to-talk/) [Jane Stanton Hitchcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-stanton-hitchcock/) > [The trouble with most people is that every time they think, they think of themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/the-trouble-with-most-people-is-that-every-time-they-think-they-think/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [I'm not trying to cause trouble in other people's lives - except for my opponents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-perry/i-m-not-trying-to-cause-trouble-in-other-people-s-lives-except-for-my/) [Mike Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-perry/) > [The trouble with our people is as soon as they got out of slavery they didn't want to give the white man nothing else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-walker/the-trouble-with-our-people-is-as-soon-as-they-got-out-of-slavery/) [Alice Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-walker/) > [“We all want to be the best at something. Trouble is, some people are only the best at being second best. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/we-all-want-to-be-the-best-at-something-trouble-is-some-people-are/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [Stay in your seat come times of trouble. Its only people who jump off the roller coaster who get hurt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-harvey/stay-in-your-seat-come-times-of-trouble-its-only-people-who-jump-off/) [Paul Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-harvey/) ## More by Jeanette Winterson > [“After nine nights must come ten and every desperate meeting only leaves you desperate for another. There is never enough to eat, never enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/after-nine-nights-must-come-ten-and-every-desperate-meeting-only/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [You never give away your heart; you lend it from time to time. If it were not so, how could we take it back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/you-never-give-away-your-heart-you-lend-it-from-time-to-time-if-it/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [I have found that I am not a space where people want to live, at least not without decorating first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/i-have-found-that-i-am-not-a-space-where-people-want-to-live-at-least/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [“Yes. Just pass me my leg will you? It's on top of the wardrobe where he threw it, and I think my right arm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/yes-just-pass-me-my-leg-will-you-it-s-on-top-of-the-wardrobe-where-he/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [Every second the Universe divides into possibilities and most of those possibilities never happen. 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What would it have meant if things had been bright, clear, good between us?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/what-would-it-have-meant-to-be-happy-what-would-it-have-meant-if/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [“Mrs Ratlow was a widow, and she was head of English, but she still did all the cooking and cleaning for her two sons,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/mrs-ratlow-was-a-widow-and-she-was-head-of-english-but-she-still-did/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [“I shall have nowt to talk to now the baby is boiled.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/i-shall-have-nowt-to-talk-to-now-the-baby-is-boiled/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [“What art does is to coax us away from the mechanical and towards the miraculous. 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I shall call myself Alice and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/a-curse-on-this-game-how-can-you-stick-at-a-game-when-the-rules-keep/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [“He turned away and I turned to him in vivid heat to look on the sun-dried world. The groves and towers were gone. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/he-turned-away-and-i-turned-to-him-in-vivid-heat-to-look-on-the-sun/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) [Explore all 1,016 Jeanette Winterson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) ## More Apathetic quotes > [We must always work, and a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood. 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I find that very difficult to believe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-brand/does-anyone-really-go-into-nursing-intending-to-be-apathetic-cold-and/) [Jo Brand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-brand/) > [The first step in freeing yourself from social restrictions is the realization that there is no such thing as a safe code of conduct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-browne/the-first-step-in-freeing-yourself-from-social-restrictions-is-the/) [Harry Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-browne/) > [Every apathetic individual is a brick in a tyrant's throne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-slater/every-apathetic-individual-is-a-brick-in-a-tyrant-s-throne/) [Philip Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-slater/) > [Mourn not the dead that in the cool earth lie... But rather mourn the apathetic throng - The cowed and the meek - Who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-chaplin/mourn-not-the-dead-that-in-the-cool-earth-lie-but-rather-mourn-the/) [Ralph Chaplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-chaplin/) > [Death: the only true emotion felt in an apathetic world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/death-the-only-true-emotion-felt-in-an-apathetic-world/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [Thwarted, or starved, in the important objects proper to young capacities, the boys and young men naturally find or invent deviant objects for themselves.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-goodman/thwarted-or-starved-in-the-important-objects-proper-to-young/) [Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-goodman/) > [Even as I'm shoveling up my hooter, I realize the sad truth. Coke bores me, It bores us all. We're jaded cunts, in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvine-welsh/even-as-i-m-shoveling-up-my-hooter-i-realize-the-sad-truth-coke-bores/) [Irvine Welsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvine-welsh/) > [From arts, to literature, to science, to the founding of Christian institutions, all of that has its roots in a biblical worldview, but when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hank-hanegraaff/from-arts-to-literature-to-science-to-the-founding-of-christian/) [Hank Hanegraaff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hank-hanegraaff/) > [“I don’t know, apathetic bloody planet, I’ve no sympathy at all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/i-don-t-know-apathetic-bloody-planet-i-ve-no-sympathy-at-all/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [I am beginning to respect the apathetic days. 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Apathy cultivates ignorance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzy-kassem/empathy-nurtures-wisdom-apathy-cultivates-ignorance/) [Suzy Kassem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzy-kassem/) Browse all 123 Apathetic quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The trouble is that when most people are apathetic ordinary people ... have to go too far, have to ruin their lives and be made an object of scorn just to get the point across. 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