--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What persuades men and women to mistake…" description: "\"What persuades men and women to mistake each other from time to time for gods or vermin is ideology. One can understand well enough how human beings ma..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d8/terry-eagleton-1660_abstract_what-persuades-men-and-women-to-mistake_499574.png" --- # What persuades men and women to mistake each other from… ![“What persuades men and women to mistake each other from time to time for gods or vermin is ideology. One can understand well enough how human beings may struggle and murder for good material reasons - reasons connected, for instance, with their physical survival. It is much harder to grasp how…” quote by Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d8/terry-eagleton-1660_abstract_what-persuades-men-and-women-to-mistake_499574.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d8/terry-eagleton-1660_abstract_what-persuades-men-and-women-to-mistake_499574.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d8/terry-eagleton-1660_abstract_what-persuades-men-and-women-to-mistake_499574.png) > “What persuades men and women to mistake each other from time to time for gods or vermin is ideology. One can understand well enough how human beings may struggle and murder for good material reasons - reasons connected, for instance, with their physical survival. It is much harder to grasp how they may come to do so in the name of something as apparently abstract as ideas. Yet ideas are what men and women live by, and will occasionally die for.” [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Ideas can motivate extreme actions, even violence, more power material needs. **In simple terms:** Ideas can drive people to kill. Key Takeaway Examine the power of belief systems. Themes ideology violence human nature Mood reflective serious Type political philosophical When to use this quote - social movements - religious conflicts - political propaganda Key Concepts philosophy political theory Questions to Reflect On - What ideas drive your actions? - How can we challenge harmful ideologies? A Different Perspective Ideas can be manipulated to justify harm. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abstract](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstract/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Ideology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideology/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Men and women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-and-women/) [Mistake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mistake/) [Murder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murder/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle/) [Survival](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/survival/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“What persuades men and women to mistake each other from time to time for gods and vermin is ideology.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/what-persuades-men-and-women-to-mistake-each-other-from-time-to-time-2/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [I say you don't need religion, or political ideology, to understand human nature. Science reveals that human nature is greedy and selfish, altruistic and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/i-say-you-don-t-need-religion-or-political-ideology-to-understand/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [We all want things that are not necessarily essential, but we always choose those actions which we think will best improve the situation from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-l-greaves-jr/we-all-want-things-that-are-not-necessarily-essential-but-we-always/) Percy L. Greaves, Jr > [It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-acton/it-was-from-america-that-the-plain-ideas-that-men-ought-to-mind-their/) [Lord Acton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-acton/) > [Men of ideas and men of action have much to learn from each other, and the truly great are men of both action and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-donovan/men-of-ideas-and-men-of-action-have-much-to-learn-from-each-other-and/) [Jack Donovan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-donovan/) > [Reason is the tool men use to determine if their statements about reality are valid: there is no other. Those who do not or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-wright/reason-is-the-tool-men-use-to-determine-if-their-statements-about/) [John C. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-wright/) > [We follow ideas and not men, and rebel against this habit of embodying a principle in a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/errico-malatesta/we-follow-ideas-and-not-men-and-rebel-against-this-habit-of-embodying/) [Errico Malatesta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/errico-malatesta/) > [Though reading and conversation may furnish us with many ideas of men and things, yet it is our own meditation must form our judgment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-watts/though-reading-and-conversation-may-furnish-us-with-many-ideas-of-men/) [Isaac Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-watts/) > [The silence often of pure innocence persuades when speaking fails.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/the-silence-often-of-pure-innocence-persuades-when-speaking-fails/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-fry/bach-almost-persuades-me-to-be-a-christian/) [Roger Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-fry/) > [The fool tells me his reason; the wise man persuades me with my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-fool-tells-me-his-reason-the-wise-man-persuades-me-with-my-own/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Truth is now simply a matter of etiquette: it has no authority, no sense of rightness, because it is no longer anchored in anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-f-wells/truth-is-now-simply-a-matter-of-etiquette-it-has-no-authority-no/) [David F. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-f-wells/) > [We communicate with passion and passion persuades.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-roddick/we-communicate-with-passion-and-passion-persuades/) [Anita Roddick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-roddick/) > [Passion persuades me one way, reason another. I see the better and approve it, but I follow the worse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/passion-persuades-me-one-way-reason-another-i-see-the-better-and/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [“I shall leave the world, I feel, with more satisfaction for having come to know you. Knowing you persuades me more than the Bible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/i-shall-leave-the-world-i-feel-with-more-satisfaction-for-having-come/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) ## More by Terry Eagleton > [Nations sometimes flourish by denying the crimes that brought them into being. Only when the original invasion, occupation, extermination or usurpation has been safely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/nations-sometimes-flourish-by-denying-the-crimes-that-brought-them/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech. If you approach me at a bus stop and murmur Thou still unravished…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/literature-transforms-and-intensifies-ordinary-language-deviates/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [The study of history and philosophy, accompanied by some acquaintance with art and literature, should be for lawyers and engineers as well as for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/the-study-of-history-and-philosophy-accompanied-by-some-acquaintance/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [To claim that science and religion pose different questions to the world is not to suggest that if the bones of Jesus were discovered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/to-claim-that-science-and-religion-pose-different-questions-to-the/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [“Evil may be 'unscientific' but so is a song or a smile.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/evil-may-be-unscientific-but-so-is-a-song-or-a-smile/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [Virtue is something you have to get good at, like playing the trombone or tolerating bores at parties. 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It's sort of an abstract silliness, that sometimes the joke isn't the star.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-carvey/describing-comic-sensibility-is-near-impossible-it-s-sort-of-an/) [Dana Carvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-carvey/) > [For people of color - especially African Americans - the idea that racist cops might frame members of their community is no abstract notion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-wise/for-people-of-color-especially-african-americans-the-idea-that-racist/) [Tim Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-wise/) > [The word of the Lord never comes to us as an opinion, no attempt is made to support it by argument, it comes as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-w-ivins/the-word-of-the-lord-never-comes-to-us-as-an-opinion-no-attempt-is/) Anthony W. Ivins > [A mobile is an abstract sculpture made chiefly out of sheet metal, steel rods, wire and wood. 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