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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It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor.
It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor.
There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle read more
There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book, painting a picture, and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement.
But it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
But it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
No one is truly literate who cannot read his own heart.
No one is truly literate who cannot read his own heart.
To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of read more
To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.
To be truly selfish one needs a degree of self-esteem. The self-despisers are less intent on their own increase than read more
To be truly selfish one needs a degree of self-esteem. The self-despisers are less intent on their own increase than on the diminution of others. Where self-esteem is unattainable, envy takes the place of greed.
To be a human being means to possess a feeling of inferiority which constantly presses towards its own conquest...The greater read more
To be a human being means to possess a feeling of inferiority which constantly presses towards its own conquest...The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge for conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation.
To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.
To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.
No one has ever had an idea in a dress suit.
No one has ever had an idea in a dress suit.
