Clare Boothe Luce, “Is the New Morality Destroying America?” May 28, 1978
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You may search through all the great literature of the world and you will find no words extolling marital infidelities. While it is true that the “sins of the flesh” have always been more readily forgiven to husbands than to wives, all human societies have taken a very harsh view of men who seduce—or rape—the wives or daughters of the men of their own society. When the Trojan, Paris, ran off with Helen, wife of the Greek King Menaleus, Greece fought a seven-year war against Troy, to protest the seduction and abduction of Helen. King David’s abduction and seduction of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, scandalized his court. It also caused that God-fearing monarch great agonies of repentance. In passing, King David’s repentance produced some of the world’s greatest poetry—perhaps, an early proof of Sigmund Freud’s theory that all the creative works of man—all his art, poetry, architecture, even his proclivity for moneymaking, political power, and Empire building, are au fond, sublimations of his consciously or subconsciously repressed sexual desires.

— Clare Boothe Luce

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "You may search through all the great literature of the world and you will find no words extolling marital infidelities. While it is true that the “sins of the flesh” have always been more readily forgiven to husbands than to wives, all human societies have taken a very harsh view of men who seduce—or rape—the wives or daughters of the men of their own society. When the Trojan, Paris, ran off with Helen, wife of the Greek King Menaleus, Greece fought a seven-year war against Troy, to protest the seduction and abduction of Helen. King David’s abduction and seduction of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, scandalized his court. It also caused that God-fearing monarch great agonies of repentance. In passing, King David’s repentance produced some of the world’s greatest poetry—perhaps, an early proof of Sigmund Freud’s theory that all the creative works of man—all his art, poetry, architecture, even his proclivity for moneymaking, political power, and Empire building, are au fond, sublimations of his consciously or subconsciously repressed sexual desires." in the context of "Clare Boothe Luce, “Is the New Morality Destroying America?” May 28, 1978" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "David" (Quotes about David) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
David

About David

King David (d. ca. 961 BC) was according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel.