“It is just like man’s vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.”
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People Want to be Admired
“It is human nature to take delight in exciting admiration. It is what prompts children to say “smart” things, and do absurd ones, and in other ways “show off” when company is present. It is what makes gossips turn out in rain and storm to go and be the first to tell a startling bit of news.”
A Personal Stake Leads to Action
“It is always the way; words will answer as long as it is only a person’s neighbor who is in trouble, but when that person gets into trouble himself, it is time that the King rise up and do something.”
A Man’s Self-Approval
“A man will do ANYTHING, no matter what it is, TO SECURE HIS SPIRITUAL COMFORT; and he can neither be forced nor persuaded to any act which has not that goal for its object. …A man cannot be comfortable without HIS OWN approval. He will secure the largest share possible of that, at all costs, all sacrifices.”
To Promise Not to do a Thing
“To promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing.”
Work and Play
“Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.”
Our Adversaries Are Insane
“The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. When I look around me, I am often troubled to see how many people are mad.”
Knowing Right From Wrong
“The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.”
Coveting Difficult Things
“He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it – namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.”
Everyone Has a Dark Side
“Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”
Grief and Joy
“Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.”
The Opportunity to Kill
“If the desire to kill and the opportunity to kill came always together, who would escape hanging[?]“
