"We are all very ready to believe what we like"
About this Quote
Richardson’s line cuts with the quiet confidence of someone who watched “virtue” get marketed like a luxury good. “We are all very ready” sounds communal, even mild, but it’s a trap: the phrase implicates everyone while letting no one off the hook. The sentence doesn’t accuse us of believing lies; it accuses us of preferring certain truths. Belief becomes less a conclusion than a convenience.
As a novelist of manners and moral trial, Richardson understood that the most persuasive force in social life isn’t evidence, it’s desire wearing a respectable hat. His characters (and readers) are trained to see themselves as rational, pious, fair-minded. Then a pleasing story arrives - about our innocence, our superiority, our victimhood, our romantic destiny - and the mind becomes a concierge, escorting doubt out the door. The subtext is psychological and social: what we “like” is shaped by class expectations, gender roles, reputation, and the urgent need to feel consistent with the self we perform.
The elegance of the wording is the cruelty of it. “Ready” suggests speed, almost eagerness; there’s no heroic struggle toward truth, just an instinctive lean toward whatever flatters. In Richardson’s 18th-century world of letters, gossip, sermons, and sentimental novels, narratives traveled fast and ethics were public theater. The line anticipates modern media habits with unnerving clarity: confirmation bias before it had a name, the algorithm before the machine. It works because it’s not a lecture; it’s a mirror held at a slightly unflattering angle.
As a novelist of manners and moral trial, Richardson understood that the most persuasive force in social life isn’t evidence, it’s desire wearing a respectable hat. His characters (and readers) are trained to see themselves as rational, pious, fair-minded. Then a pleasing story arrives - about our innocence, our superiority, our victimhood, our romantic destiny - and the mind becomes a concierge, escorting doubt out the door. The subtext is psychological and social: what we “like” is shaped by class expectations, gender roles, reputation, and the urgent need to feel consistent with the self we perform.
The elegance of the wording is the cruelty of it. “Ready” suggests speed, almost eagerness; there’s no heroic struggle toward truth, just an instinctive lean toward whatever flatters. In Richardson’s 18th-century world of letters, gossip, sermons, and sentimental novels, narratives traveled fast and ethics were public theater. The line anticipates modern media habits with unnerving clarity: confirmation bias before it had a name, the algorithm before the machine. It works because it’s not a lecture; it’s a mirror held at a slightly unflattering angle.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
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