--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Because he let the entire world press…" description: "\"“Because he let the entire world press upon him. For instance? Well, for instance, what it means to be a man. In a city. In a century. In transition. I..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ec/saul-bellow-558_herzog_because-he-let-the-entire-world-press-up_2457911.jpg" --- # Because he let the entire world press upon him. For… ![“Because he let the entire world press upon him. For instance? Well, for instance, what it means to be a man. In a city. In a century. In transition. In a mass. Transformed by science. Under organized power. Subject to tremendous controls. In a condition caused by mechanization. After the late…” quote by Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ec/saul-bellow-558_herzog_because-he-let-the-entire-world-press-up_2457911.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ec/saul-bellow-558_herzog_because-he-let-the-entire-world-press-up_2457911.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ec/saul-bellow-558_herzog_because-he-let-the-entire-world-press-up_2457911.jpg) > ““Because he let the entire world press upon him. For instance? Well, for instance, what it means to be a man. In a city. In a century. In transition. In a mass. Transformed by science. Under organized power. Subject to tremendous controls. In a condition caused by mechanization. After the late failure of radical hopes. In a society that was no community and devalued the person.Owing to the multiplied power of numbers which made the self negligible. Which spent military billions against foreign enemies but would not pay for order at home. Which permitted savagery and barbarism in its own great cities. At the same time, the pressure of human millions who have discovered what concerted efforts and thoughts can do.”” [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Modern society overwhelms individuals with mechanization, loss of community, and impersonal power, diminishing personal significance. **In simple terms:** Society’s structures can erode individuality and purpose. Key Takeaway Seek authentic connections and personal agency. Themes society individual modernity Mood critical analytical Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - urban living - workplace culture - political activism Key Concepts alienation power structures technology impact Questions to Reflect On - How can you maintain individuality? - What small actions resist dehumanization? A Different Perspective Balancing critique with hope is difficult. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Caused Mechanization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caused-mechanization-626268/) [Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/herzog-82030/) [Human Millions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-millions-626270/) [Mass Transformed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mass-transformed-626269/) [Means Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/means-man-626267/) [Mechanization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mechanization/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [“Public life drives out private life. The more political our society becomes (in the broadest sense of ‘political’ — the obsessions, the compulsions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/public-life-drives-out-private-life-the-more-political-our-society/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“For instance? Well, for instance, what it means to be a man. In a city. In a century. In transition. In a mass. Transformed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/for-instance-well-for-instance-what-it-means-to-be-a-man-in-a-city-in/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [People have long feared that mechanization might cause mass unemployment. This never happened because, as old professions became obsolete, new professions evolved, and there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/people-have-long-feared-that-mechanization-might-cause-mass/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [Mechanization best serves mediocrity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-lloyd-wright/mechanization-best-serves-mediocrity/) [Frank Lloyd Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-lloyd-wright/) > [If you ask an economist what's driven economic growth, it's been major advances in things that mattered - the mechanization of farming, mass manufacturing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-page/if-you-ask-an-economist-what-s-driven-economic-growth-it-s-been-major/) [Larry Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-page/) > [Jobs represent a relatively recent pattern of work. 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A disastrous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-believe-that-the-horrifying-deterioration-in-the-ethical-conduct-of/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Intelligent machines will continue that mechanization process, taking over the more menial aspects of cognition and elevating our mental lives towards creativity, curiosity, beauty,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-kasparov/intelligent-machines-will-continue-that-mechanization-process-taking/) [Garry Kasparov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-kasparov/) > [Living in a time of the increasing struggle of the mechanization of man, photography has become another example of this paradoxical problem of how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haas/living-in-a-time-of-the-increasing-struggle-of-the-mechanization-of/) [Ernst Haas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haas/) > [Gramophone and movies were merely the mechanization of speech and gesture. But the radio and TV were not just the electronification of speech and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/gramophone-and-movies-were-merely-the-mechanization-of-speech-and/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [The artist is always searching for the meaning of life, his own and that of mankind, searching for truth. A system of uncertainty has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bohuslav-martinu/the-artist-is-always-searching-for-the-meaning-of-life-his-own-and/) [Bohuslav Martinu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bohuslav-martinu/) > [In olden times when there was a war, it was a human-to-human confrontation. The victor in battle would directly see the blood and suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/in-olden-times-when-there-was-a-war-it-was-a-human-to-human/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) ## More by Saul Bellow > [... a fellow can't predict what he will pick up in the form of influence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/a-fellow-can-t-predict-what-he-will-pick-up-in-the-form-of-influence/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [If I'm out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/if-i-m-out-of-my-mind-it-s-all-right-with-me-thought-moses-herzog/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [I have begun in old age to understand just how oddly we are all put together. 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Plenty of evidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/is-our-species-crazy-plenty-of-evidence/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“But now the emphasis has shifted to making it. People have surrendered their personal moral objectives to government or schools or psychologists. It’s a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/but-now-the-emphasis-has-shifted-to-making-it-people-have-surrendered/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [There's a kind of emptiness at the center of life ... nothing to form your life on, or by.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/there-s-a-kind-of-emptiness-at-the-center-of-life-nothing-to-form/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [“I don't know how it all at once came to me to talk a lot, tell jokes, kick up, and suddenly have views. 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The more political our society becomes (in the broadest sense of ‘political’ — the obsessions, the compulsions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/public-life-drives-out-private-life-the-more-political-our-society/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) [Browse all 2 Herzog quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/herzog-82030/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Because he let the entire world press upon him. For instance? Well, for instance, what it means to be a man. In a city. In a century. In transition. In a mass. Transformed by science. Under organized power. Subject to tremendous controls. In a condition caused by mechanization. After the late failure of radical hopes. In a society that was no community and devalued the person.Owing to the multiplied power of numbers which made the self negligible. 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