Meaning & Analysis
Horse droppings floating down a stream with apples mistakenly claim to be apples themselves, simply because they are carried along by the same current.
Insights
False Equivalence
The proverb mocks those who assume they share the same worth or status as others simply because of circumstantial proximity, critiquing superficial comparisons that ignore inherent differences.
Hypocrisy and Self-Deception
It targets individuals who align themselves with virtuous or esteemed causes for selfish reasons, mistakenly or manipulatively believing themselves to be genuinely aligned with such values.
Unwarranted Association
The phrase satirizes how unworthy or corrupt entities attempt to gain legitimacy by associating with nobler counterparts, relying on appearance rather than substance.
Social Climbing and Pretension
Symbolizes those who attempt to elevate their status by merely moving with or among the elite, highlighting the folly of confusing context with character.
Moral Satire in Early Modern England
Used as early as the 17th century to critique religious hypocrisy, this proverb played a part in Puritan and Restoration-era satire, where aligning oneself with divine or noble causes while acting ignobly was a frequent target of ridicule.
Visual Grotesque for Ethical Clarity
The image of horse dung pretending to be apples provides a vivid moral contrast—repulsive and wholesome, corrupt and pure—offering an unambiguous ethical lesson through bodily imagery.
Psychology of Mimicry
Reveals a deep psychological tendency for individuals to gain perceived status through mimicry or proximity rather than internal change—an enduring human behavior evident in politics, religion, and social life.
Class Commentary
The proverb hints at class-based anxieties, where those seen as ‘low-born’ or base attempt to mingle with the refined, prompting scorn from established elites—revealing cultural tensions around authenticity and aspiration.
Rhetorical Devices
Irony
The ironic declaration by the turds—'We apples swim'—presents an obvious falsehood as truth, heightening the satirical tone and mocking self-delusion.
Grotesque Imagery
Contrasts filth and fruit in a visually jarring way, making the moral judgment unmistakable and emotionally charged through sensory impact.
Personification
Giving speech and agency to the turds adds a comic and grotesque element, making the absurdity of their self-misidentification both memorable and rhetorically powerful.
Transcription
Quotations
Hypocrites are very glad when Gods and their ends concurre As the dung swimming in the same streame with the Apples, said, We apples swimme.
(See how we apples).
Upon a . . Fall of Rain, the Current carry'd Away a Huge Heap of Apples, together with a Dunghill that lay in the Water-Course . . as they went thus . . the Horse-Turds would be . . Crying out still, Alack a day! How We Apples Swim!
Cross References
- See TAY., p. 209
- and ibid., Index, p. 12.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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