Tom Waits: Monkeys With Money
on Saturday, February 25, 2023Meaning of Tom Waits Money Quote: saying we are barely more sophisticated than monkeys but finance and execute wars. Tom Waits said:
“We are all just monkeys with money and guns” — Tom Waits
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This quote from Tom Waits suggests that despite outward displays of status, wealth or power, humans are still fundamentally just another type of primate beneath surface attributes. Some key points in interpreting his perspective:
- Waits implies that for all the money and weaponry some amass, people remain animals subject to the same biological and psychological drives as other primates, lacking true transcendence.
- He portrays wealth and armaments as superficial markers that do not elevate humans above their animal nature or change their inherent impermanence.
- Waits’ perspective conveys a viewpoint that money and guns are transitory possessions that do not alter humanity’s place within the natural world or define its essence.
- However, reasonable people can disagree on Waits’ implications, as money and technology also enable cultural and scientific achievements expressing humanity’s capacity for creativity, compassion, and progress according to personal philosophies and contexts.
Overall, the quote reflects Waits’ stance that material wealth and force do not elevate humans above their animal origins or mortality. But the best interpretation considers this perspective as one viewpoint, and recognizes that people of integrity can disagree on what distinguishes and unifies all life according to their own study and experience.