However human, envy is certainly not one of the sources of discontent that a free society can eliminate. It is probably one of the essential conditions for the preservation of such a society that we do not countenance envy, not sanction its demands by camouflaging it as social justice, but treat it, in the words of John Stuart Mill, as "the most anti-social and evil of all passions.
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To believe that if we could but have this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization read more
To believe that if we could but have this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization that the cause of our unhappiness is in our inadequate and blemished selves. Excessive desire is thus a means of suppressing our sense of worthlessness.
Children sweeten labours; but they make misfortunes more bitter. They increase the care of life; but they mitigate the remembrance read more
Children sweeten labours; but they make misfortunes more bitter. They increase the care of life; but they mitigate the remembrance of death. The perpetuity of generation is common to beasts; but memory, merit, and noble works, are proper to men. And surely a man shall see the noblest works and foundations have proceeded from childless men; which have sought to express the images of their minds, where those of their bodies have failed.
From the psychological point of view, the self-asserting emotions, derived from emergency reactions, involve a narrowing of consciousness; the participatory read more
From the psychological point of view, the self-asserting emotions, derived from emergency reactions, involve a narrowing of consciousness; the participatory emotions an expansion of consciousness by identificatory processes of various kinds.
We usually see only the things we are looking for- so much so that we sometimes see them where they read more
We usually see only the things we are looking for- so much so that we sometimes see them where they are not.
To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain enormously in confidence before read more
To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain enormously in confidence before he could conceive an all-powerful God who obeys his own laws.
The main fuel to speed the world's progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of read more
The main fuel to speed the world's progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of imagination.
The three-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn read more
The three-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.
The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.
The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.
What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a read more
What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.
