Life & Wisdom Quote by John Dryden

Dryden’s real target isn’t ignorance; it’s the loud, self-satisfied kind. “Far more numerous” lands like a grim census: the dangerous crowd isn’t the rare villain or the obvious fool, but the mass of people who skim life on mental autopilot and then compensate with noise. Calling them a “herd” is pointedly ungenerous. It strips them of individuality and agency, implying not just stupidity but a kind of moral laziness - the comfort of moving with the group, repeating what’s already been said, mistaking volume for thought.

The line works because of its clean asymmetry: “think too little” comes first, quiet and damning; “talk too much” follows like the symptom everyone can hear. Dryden nails a social mechanism that feels modern: speech as performance, chatter as a way to avoid the harder task of forming a judgment. The phrase “such” sharpens the disdain, as if he’s gesturing at an entire species he’s tired of meeting.

Context matters. Dryden wrote in an era when pamphlets, coffeehouses, and political intrigue turned public opinion into a contact sport. As a poet enmeshed in Restoration culture - a world of wit, factions, and reputational combat - he understood that talk wasn’t neutral. Gossip, slogans, and rhetorical swagger could tilt courts and crowds. The subtext is elitist, yes, but also practical: societies don’t usually fall to deep thinkers; they get steered by the confident herd who haven’t done the reading.