--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If all were gentle and contented as…" description: "\"If all were gentle and contented as sheep, all would be as feeble and helpless.\" — John Lancaster Spalding" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16a/john-lancaster-spalding-3115_feeble_if-all-were-gentle-and-contented-as-shee_1430862.png" --- # If all were gentle and contented as sheep, all would be as… ![“If all were gentle and contented as sheep, all would be as feeble and helpless.” quote by John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16a/john-lancaster-spalding-3115_feeble_if-all-were-gentle-and-contented-as-shee_1430862.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16a/john-lancaster-spalding-3115_feeble_if-all-were-gentle-and-contented-as-shee_1430862.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16a/john-lancaster-spalding-3115_feeble_if-all-were-gentle-and-contented-as-shee_1430862.png) > “If all were gentle and contented as sheep, all would be as feeble and helpless.” [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. If everyone were overly compliant, they would lack strength and independence. **In simple terms:** Blind obedience creates weakness. Key Takeaway Encourage critical thinking and self‑reliance. Themes conformity vulnerability strength Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education systems - authoritarian regimes - team environments Key Concepts individualism social dynamics Questions to Reflect On - What benefits come from questioning norms? - How can you foster healthy independence? A Different Perspective Uniformity can stifle innovation and resilience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contented Sheep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contented-sheep-5095185/) [Feeble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feeble/) [Feeble Helpless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feeble-helpless-5095184/) [Gentle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gentle/) [Helpless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/helpless/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Sheep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sheep/) [Sheep Feeble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sheep-feeble-5095183/) [Would be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would-be/) ## Related quotes > [“Man may feel like a feeble and powerless pawn, at some moment in his life. This apprehension can come out of the blue, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/man-may-feel-like-a-feeble-and-powerless-pawn-at-some-moment-in-his/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [Humane sentiments are baseless, mad, and improper; they are incredibly feeble; never do they withstand the gainsaying passions, never do they resist bare necessity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/humane-sentiments-are-baseless-mad-and-improper-they-are-incredibly/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-hamilton/a-feeble-executive-implies-a-feeble-execution-of-the-government-a/) [Alexander Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-hamilton/) > [“Religion adheres to the wise, while the feeble are bound to it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vd/religion-adheres-to-the-wise-while-the-feeble-are-bound-to-it/) [VD](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vd/) > [A feeble body weakens the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/a-feeble-body-weakens-the-mind/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of feeble minds”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/a-foolish-consistency-is-the-hobgoblin-of-feeble-minds/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keyes/even-a-feeble-minded-man-wants-to-be-like-other-men/) [Daniel Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keyes/) > [What I seek to accomplish is simply to serve with my feeble capacity truth and justice, at the risk of pleasing no one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/what-i-seek-to-accomplish-is-simply-to-serve-with-my-feeble-capacity/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [The only black people you found were occasional characters or characters who were so feeble-witted that they couldn't manage anything, anyway. I wrote myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/the-only-black-people-you-found-were-occasional-characters-or/) [Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/) > [Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/persuasion-is-the-resource-of-the-feeble-and-the-feeble-can-seldom/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [“Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harper-lee/atticus-was-feeble-he-was-nearly-fifty/) [Harper Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harper-lee/) > [I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is: I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-chrysostom/i-know-my-own-soul-how-feeble-and-puny-it-is-i-know-the-magnitude-of/) [John Chrysostom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-chrysostom/) > [“May you hear my feeble voice! It will tell you that here below there is a heart full of the memory of you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herculine-barbin/may-you-hear-my-feeble-voice-it-will-tell-you-that-here-below-there/) [Herculine Barbin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herculine-barbin/) > [“Have you ever plunged into the immensity of space and time by reading the geological treatises of Cuvier? Borne away on the wings of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/have-you-ever-plunged-into-the-immensity-of-space-and-time-by-reading/) [Honoré de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/profanity-is-the-effort-of-a-feeble-brain-to-express-itself-forcibly/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) ## More by John Lancaster Spalding > [In giving us dominion over the animal kingdom God has signified His will that we subdue the beast within ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/in-giving-us-dominion-over-the-animal-kingdom-god-has-signified-his/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [To think profoundly, to seek and speak truth, to love justice and denounce wrong is to draw upon one's self the ill will of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/to-think-profoundly-to-seek-and-speak-truth-to-love-justice-and/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [There is some lack either of sense or of character in one who becomes involved in difficulties with the worthless or the vicious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/there-is-some-lack-either-of-sense-or-of-character-in-one-who-becomes/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Worry, whatever its source, weakens, takes away courage, and shortens life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/worry-whatever-its-source-weakens-takes-away-courage-and-shortens-life/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [The zest of life lies in right doing, not in the garnered harvest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/the-zest-of-life-lies-in-right-doing-not-in-the-garnered-harvest/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [They who can no longer unlearn have lost the power to learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/they-who-can-no-longer-unlearn-have-lost-the-power-to-learn/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [What we think out for ourselves forms channels in which other thoughts will flow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/what-we-think-out-for-ourselves-forms-channels-in-which-other/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Women are aristocrats, and it is always the mother who makes us feel that we belong to the better sort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/women-are-aristocrats-and-it-is-always-the-mother-who-makes-us-feel/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Though what we accept be true, it is a prejudice unless we ourselves have considered and understood why and how it is true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/though-what-we-accept-be-true-it-is-a-prejudice-unless-we-ourselves/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [There are few things it is more important to learn than how to live on little and be therewith content: for the less we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/there-are-few-things-it-is-more-important-to-learn-than-how-to-live/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [We are more disturbed by a calamity which threatens us than by one which has befallen us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/we-are-more-disturbed-by-a-calamity-which-threatens-us-than-by-one/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Be watchful lest thou lose the power of desiring and loving what appeals to the soul this is the miser's curse this the chain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/be-watchful-lest-thou-lose-the-power-of-desiring-and-loving-what/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [The exercise of authority is odious, and they who know how to govern, leave it in abeyance as much as possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/the-exercise-of-authority-is-odious-and-they-who-know-how-to-govern/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [We may outgrow the things of children, without acquiring sense and relish for those which become a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/we-may-outgrow-the-things-of-children-without-acquiring-sense-and/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [They who see through the eyes of others are controlled by the will of others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/they-who-see-through-the-eyes-of-others-are-controlled-by-the-will-of/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) [Explore all 139 John Lancaster Spalding quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) ## More Feeble quotes > [“Man may feel like a feeble and powerless pawn, at some moment in his life. This apprehension can come out of the blue, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/man-may-feel-like-a-feeble-and-powerless-pawn-at-some-moment-in-his/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [“Have you ever plunged into the immensity of space and time by reading the geological treatises of Cuvier? Borne away on the wings of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/have-you-ever-plunged-into-the-immensity-of-space-and-time-by-reading/) [Honoré de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [“May you hear my feeble voice! It will tell you that here below there is a heart full of the memory of you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herculine-barbin/may-you-hear-my-feeble-voice-it-will-tell-you-that-here-below-there/) [Herculine Barbin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herculine-barbin/) > [I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is: I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-chrysostom/i-know-my-own-soul-how-feeble-and-puny-it-is-i-know-the-magnitude-of/) [John Chrysostom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-chrysostom/) > [“Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harper-lee/atticus-was-feeble-he-was-nearly-fifty/) [Harper Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harper-lee/) > [Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/persuasion-is-the-resource-of-the-feeble-and-the-feeble-can-seldom/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [The only black people you found were occasional characters or characters who were so feeble-witted that they couldn't manage anything, anyway. I wrote myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/the-only-black-people-you-found-were-occasional-characters-or/) [Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/) > [What I seek to accomplish is simply to serve with my feeble capacity truth and justice, at the risk of pleasing no one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/what-i-seek-to-accomplish-is-simply-to-serve-with-my-feeble-capacity/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [“Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keyes/even-a-feeble-minded-man-wants-to-be-like-other-men/) [Daniel Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keyes/) > [“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of feeble minds”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/a-foolish-consistency-is-the-hobgoblin-of-feeble-minds/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [A feeble body weakens the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/a-feeble-body-weakens-the-mind/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [“Religion adheres to the wise, while the feeble are bound to it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vd/religion-adheres-to-the-wise-while-the-feeble-are-bound-to-it/) [VD](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vd/) > [A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. 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