"Men are like sheep, of which a flock is more easily driven than a single one"
About this Quote
A polite Victorian cleric just called you livestock. Whately’s line lands because it flatters the reader’s self-image (you, individually, are stubborn and discerning) while indicting the crowd as pliable, almost mechanically steerable. It’s an insult delivered with the calm precision of an observation from a field journal: not “people are stupid,” but “groups are operable.” The metaphor is doing real work. Sheep aren’t evil; they’re social, responsive to pressure, and inclined to move as a unit. That’s the point: mass behavior isn’t primarily about ideology, it’s about momentum.
The subtext is political and institutional. Whately wrote in an era of expanding print culture, growing party organization, and public agitation around reform. “Driven” hints at management: leaders, demagogues, and respectable institutions can redirect a population by shaping the herd’s cues - fear, belonging, repetition - without persuading each mind. It’s an early sketch of what later writers would call public opinion as something manufactured, not merely expressed.
Intent-wise, Whately isn’t only sneering at “the masses.” He’s warning elites and reformers alike about the moral risk of using crowd psychology as a tool. A single person requires argument, relationship, even conscience; a flock can be moved with noise, pressure, and a well-placed dog. The sting is that modern politics often prefers the flock, because it’s efficient. The line works because it’s less about sheep than about the seductive ease of steering humans when they’re afraid to stand alone.
The subtext is political and institutional. Whately wrote in an era of expanding print culture, growing party organization, and public agitation around reform. “Driven” hints at management: leaders, demagogues, and respectable institutions can redirect a population by shaping the herd’s cues - fear, belonging, repetition - without persuading each mind. It’s an early sketch of what later writers would call public opinion as something manufactured, not merely expressed.
Intent-wise, Whately isn’t only sneering at “the masses.” He’s warning elites and reformers alike about the moral risk of using crowd psychology as a tool. A single person requires argument, relationship, even conscience; a flock can be moved with noise, pressure, and a well-placed dog. The sting is that modern politics often prefers the flock, because it’s efficient. The line works because it’s less about sheep than about the seductive ease of steering humans when they’re afraid to stand alone.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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