The Dead Sea Apes is a fable of dwellers by the Dead Sea who, according to the Muslim tradition, were transformed into apes because they turned a deaf ear to God's message to them by the lips of Moses. It is also a metaphor used, for instance by Carlyle, describing people in modern times to whom the universe, with all its serious voices, seems to have become a weariness and a humbug. See "Past and Present", Bk. iii. chap. 3.
Famous quotes containing the words dead, sea and/or apes:
“If I be foiled, there is but one shamed that was never
gracious; if killed, but one dead that is willing to be so.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The sea has never been friendly to man. At most it has been the accomplice of human restlessness.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“It disturbs me no more to find men base, unjust, or selfish than to see apes mischievous, wolves savage, or the vulture ravenous for its prey.”
—Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622–1673)