For God’s sake, let us be mennot monkeys minding machinesor sitting with our tails curledwhile the machine amuses us, the radio or film or gramophone. Monkeys with a bland grin on our faces.

D.h. Lawrence
About This Quote

These words were written by Ernest Hemingway in his book To Have and Have Not. The above quote is the best definition of the word “man” that I have ever read. The word man can be understood in both its literal and figurative senses. A man is an adult human being.

And, when we are adults, we are considered men. However, when people talk about “men behaving like monkeys” they are referring to men acting like children. It is not uncommon to see children act like monkeys in public just to get a laugh out of their peers.

The behavior of monkeys in public is not because they are acting like children, but because their childish behavior has become the norm for them. They have stopped being adults and have become monkeys.

Source: Selected Letters

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