Quote by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
Always this same morbid interest in other people and their doings, their privacies, their dirty linen, always this air of alertness for personal happenings, personalities, personalities, personalities. Always this subtle criticism and appraisal of other people, this analysis of other people's motives. If anatomy presupposes a corpse, then psychology presupposes a world of corpses. Personalities, which means personal criticism and analysis, presuppose a whole world laboratory of human psyches waiting to be vivisected. If you cut a thing up, of course it will smell. Hence, nothing raises such an infernal stink, at last, as human psychology.
Summary
This quote expresses the author's frustration with society's fixation on other people's lives, behaviors, and motivations. The quote suggests that this constant interest in gossip, personal criticism, and analysis creates an unpleasant and suffocating environment. The comparison between anatomy and psychology implies that dissecting human minds and personalities is equally unpleasant, as it involves cutting open and examining something that should remain private. Ultimately, the quote hints at the idea that too much focus on dissecting and critiquing others can result in a negative and toxic atmosphere.