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#selfdelusion — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #selfdelusion, aggregated by home.social.

  1. A quotation from Montaigne

    We readily acknowledge in others an advantage in courage, in bodily strength, in experience, in agility, in beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to no one. And the arguments that come from simple natural reasoning in others, we think we would have found if we had merely glanced in that direction.
     
    [Nous reconnoissons aysément és autres, l’advantage du courage, de la force corporelle, de l’experience, de la disposition, de la beauté: mais l’advantage du jugement; nous ne le cedons à personne: Et les raisons qui partent du simple discours naturel en autruy, il nous semble qu’il n’a tenu qu’à regarder de ce costé-là, que nous ne les ayons trouvees.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Frame (1943)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #blindspot #comparison #ego #intellect #intelligence #judgment #pride #reasoning #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #vanity #wits

  2. A quotation from Montaigne

    We readily acknowledge in others an advantage in courage, in bodily strength, in experience, in agility, in beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to no one. And the arguments that come from simple natural reasoning in others, we think we would have found if we had merely glanced in that direction.
     
    [Nous reconnoissons aysément és autres, l’advantage du courage, de la force corporelle, de l’experience, de la disposition, de la beauté: mais l’advantage du jugement; nous ne le cedons à personne: Et les raisons qui partent du simple discours naturel en autruy, il nous semble qu’il n’a tenu qu’à regarder de ce costé-là, que nous ne les ayons trouvees.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Frame (1943)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #blindspot #comparison #ego #intellect #intelligence #judgment #pride #reasoning #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #vanity #wits

  3. A quotation from Montaigne

    We readily acknowledge in others an advantage in courage, in bodily strength, in experience, in agility, in beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to no one. And the arguments that come from simple natural reasoning in others, we think we would have found if we had merely glanced in that direction.
     
    [Nous reconnoissons aysément és autres, l’advantage du courage, de la force corporelle, de l’experience, de la disposition, de la beauté: mais l’advantage du jugement; nous ne le cedons à personne: Et les raisons qui partent du simple discours naturel en autruy, il nous semble qu’il n’a tenu qu’à regarder de ce costé-là, que nous ne les ayons trouvees.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Frame (1943)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #blindspot #comparison #ego #intellect #intelligence #judgment #pride #reasoning #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #vanity #wits

  4. A quotation from Montaigne

    We readily acknowledge in others an advantage in courage, in bodily strength, in experience, in agility, in beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to no one. And the arguments that come from simple natural reasoning in others, we think we would have found if we had merely glanced in that direction.
     
    [Nous reconnoissons aysément és autres, l’advantage du courage, de la force corporelle, de l’experience, de la disposition, de la beauté: mais l’advantage du jugement; nous ne le cedons à personne: Et les raisons qui partent du simple discours naturel en autruy, il nous semble qu’il n’a tenu qu’à regarder de ce costé-là, que nous ne les ayons trouvees.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Frame (1943)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #blindspot #comparison #ego #intellect #intelligence #judgment #pride #reasoning #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #vanity #wits

  5. A quotation from Montaigne

    We readily acknowledge in others an advantage in courage, in bodily strength, in experience, in agility, in beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to no one. And the arguments that come from simple natural reasoning in others, we think we would have found if we had merely glanced in that direction.
     
    [Nous reconnoissons aysément és autres, l’advantage du courage, de la force corporelle, de l’experience, de la disposition, de la beauté: mais l’advantage du jugement; nous ne le cedons à personne: Et les raisons qui partent du simple discours naturel en autruy, il nous semble qu’il n’a tenu qu’à regarder de ce costé-là, que nous ne les ayons trouvees.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Frame (1943)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #blindspot #comparison #ego #intellect #intelligence #judgment #pride #reasoning #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #vanity #wits

  6. A quotation from Bill Watterson

    CALVIN: Isn’t it sad how some people’s grip on their lives is so precarious that they’ll embrace any preposterous delusion, rather than face an occasional bleak truth?

    Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
    Calvin and Hobbes (1987-11-24)

    More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/83249…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #delusion #desperation #rationale #truth #selfdelusion

  7. A quotation from Bill Watterson

    CALVIN: Isn’t it sad how some people’s grip on their lives is so precarious that they’ll embrace any preposterous delusion, rather than face an occasional bleak truth?

    Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
    Calvin and Hobbes (1987-11-24)

    More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/83249…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #delusion #desperation #rationale #truth #selfdelusion

  8. A quotation from Bill Watterson

    CALVIN: Isn’t it sad how some people’s grip on their lives is so precarious that they’ll embrace any preposterous delusion, rather than face an occasional bleak truth?

    Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
    Calvin and Hobbes (1987-11-24)

    More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/83249…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #delusion #desperation #rationale #truth #selfdelusion

  9. A quotation from Bill Watterson

    CALVIN: Isn’t it sad how some people’s grip on their lives is so precarious that they’ll embrace any preposterous delusion, rather than face an occasional bleak truth?

    Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
    Calvin and Hobbes (1987-11-24)

    More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/83249…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #delusion #desperation #rationale #truth #selfdelusion

  10. A quotation from Bill Watterson

    CALVIN: Isn’t it sad how some people’s grip on their lives is so precarious that they’ll embrace any preposterous delusion, rather than face an occasional bleak truth?

    Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
    Calvin and Hobbes (1987-11-24)

    More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/83249…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #delusion #desperation #rationale #truth #selfdelusion

  11. A quotation from Montaigne

    There is another kind of “glory”: conceiving too high an opinion of our worth. This is an undeserved feeling by which we value ourselves, and that makes us think ourselves different than we are, just as the passion of love lends beauties and graces to the object it embraces and makes those smitten by it — with their judgment blurred and altered — find what they love different, and more perfect, than it is.
     
    [Il y a une autre sorte de gloire, qui est une trop bonne opinion, que nous concevons de nostre valeur. C’est un’affection inconsideree, dequoy nous nous cherissons, qui nous represente à nous mesmes, autres que nous ne sommes. Comme la passion amoureuse preste des beautez, & des graces, au subject qu’elle embrasse ; & fait que ceux qui en sont espris, trouvent d’un jugement trouble & alteré, ce qu’ils aiment, autre & plus parfait qu’il n’est.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #micheldemontaigne #ego #glory #pride #selfadmiration #selfapproval #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfevaluation #selfglorification #selfimage #selflove #selfperception #selfregard #selfrighteousness #selfvalue #selfworth #vainglory #vanity #humility

  12. A quotation from Montaigne

    There is another kind of “glory”: conceiving too high an opinion of our worth. This is an undeserved feeling by which we value ourselves, and that makes us think ourselves different than we are, just as the passion of love lends beauties and graces to the object it embraces and makes those smitten by it — with their judgment blurred and altered — find what they love different, and more perfect, than it is.
     
    [Il y a une autre sorte de gloire, qui est une trop bonne opinion, que nous concevons de nostre valeur. C’est un’affection inconsideree, dequoy nous nous cherissons, qui nous represente à nous mesmes, autres que nous ne sommes. Comme la passion amoureuse preste des beautez, & des graces, au subject qu’elle embrasse ; & fait que ceux qui en sont espris, trouvent d’un jugement trouble & alteré, ce qu’ils aiment, autre & plus parfait qu’il n’est.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #micheldemontaigne #ego #glory #pride #selfadmiration #selfapproval #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfevaluation #selfglorification #selfimage #selflove #selfperception #selfregard #selfrighteousness #selfvalue #selfworth #vainglory #vanity #humility

  13. A quotation from Montaigne

    There is another kind of “glory”: conceiving too high an opinion of our worth. This is an undeserved feeling by which we value ourselves, and that makes us think ourselves different than we are, just as the passion of love lends beauties and graces to the object it embraces and makes those smitten by it — with their judgment blurred and altered — find what they love different, and more perfect, than it is.
     
    [Il y a une autre sorte de gloire, qui est une trop bonne opinion, que nous concevons de nostre valeur. C’est un’affection inconsideree, dequoy nous nous cherissons, qui nous represente à nous mesmes, autres que nous ne sommes. Comme la passion amoureuse preste des beautez, & des graces, au subject qu’elle embrasse ; & fait que ceux qui en sont espris, trouvent d’un jugement trouble & alteré, ce qu’ils aiment, autre & plus parfait qu’il n’est.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #micheldemontaigne #ego #glory #pride #selfadmiration #selfapproval #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfevaluation #selfglorification #selfimage #selflove #selfperception #selfregard #selfrighteousness #selfvalue #selfworth #vainglory #vanity #humility

  14. A quotation from Montaigne

    There is another kind of “glory”: conceiving too high an opinion of our worth. This is an undeserved feeling by which we value ourselves, and that makes us think ourselves different than we are, just as the passion of love lends beauties and graces to the object it embraces and makes those smitten by it — with their judgment blurred and altered — find what they love different, and more perfect, than it is.
     
    [Il y a une autre sorte de gloire, qui est une trop bonne opinion, que nous concevons de nostre valeur. C’est un’affection inconsideree, dequoy nous nous cherissons, qui nous represente à nous mesmes, autres que nous ne sommes. Comme la passion amoureuse preste des beautez, & des graces, au subject qu’elle embrasse ; & fait que ceux qui en sont espris, trouvent d’un jugement trouble & alteré, ce qu’ils aiment, autre & plus parfait qu’il n’est.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #micheldemontaigne #ego #glory #pride #selfadmiration #selfapproval #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfevaluation #selfglorification #selfimage #selflove #selfperception #selfregard #selfrighteousness #selfvalue #selfworth #vainglory #vanity #humility

  15. A quotation from Montaigne

    There is another kind of “glory”: conceiving too high an opinion of our worth. This is an undeserved feeling by which we value ourselves, and that makes us think ourselves different than we are, just as the passion of love lends beauties and graces to the object it embraces and makes those smitten by it — with their judgment blurred and altered — find what they love different, and more perfect, than it is.
     
    [Il y a une autre sorte de gloire, qui est une trop bonne opinion, que nous concevons de nostre valeur. C’est un’affection inconsideree, dequoy nous nous cherissons, qui nous represente à nous mesmes, autres que nous ne sommes. Comme la passion amoureuse preste des beautez, & des graces, au subject qu’elle embrasse ; & fait que ceux qui en sont espris, trouvent d’un jugement trouble & alteré, ce qu’ils aiment, autre & plus parfait qu’il n’est.]

    Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
    Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]

    More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #micheldemontaigne #ego #glory #pride #selfadmiration #selfapproval #selfassessment #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfevaluation #selfglorification #selfimage #selflove #selfperception #selfregard #selfrighteousness #selfvalue #selfworth #vainglory #vanity #humility

  16. A quotation from John Adams

    Our Passions, Ambition, Avarice, Love, Resentment &c possess so much metaphysical Subtilty and so much overpowering Eloquence, that they insinuate themselves into the Understanding and the Conscience and convert both to their Party. And I may be deceived as much as any of them, when I Say, that Power must never be trusted without a Check.

    John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
    Letter (1816-02-02) to Thomas Jefferson

    More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/34664/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #checksandbalances #conscience #emotion #intellect #power #regulation #restraint #selfdeception #selfdelusion #trust #abuseofpower #powercorrupts #bestintentions #selftrust #selfawareness

  17. A quotation from John Adams

    Our Passions, Ambition, Avarice, Love, Resentment &c possess so much metaphysical Subtilty and so much overpowering Eloquence, that they insinuate themselves into the Understanding and the Conscience and convert both to their Party. And I may be deceived as much as any of them, when I Say, that Power must never be trusted without a Check.

    John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
    Letter (1816-02-02) to Thomas Jefferson

    More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/34664/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #checksandbalances #conscience #emotion #intellect #power #regulation #restraint #selfdeception #selfdelusion #trust #abuseofpower #powercorrupts #bestintentions #selftrust #selfawareness

  18. A quotation from John Adams

    Our Passions, Ambition, Avarice, Love, Resentment &c possess so much metaphysical Subtilty and so much overpowering Eloquence, that they insinuate themselves into the Understanding and the Conscience and convert both to their Party. And I may be deceived as much as any of them, when I Say, that Power must never be trusted without a Check.

    John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
    Letter (1816-02-02) to Thomas Jefferson

    More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/34664/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #checksandbalances #conscience #emotion #intellect #power #regulation #restraint #selfdeception #selfdelusion #trust #abuseofpower #powercorrupts #bestintentions #selftrust #selfawareness

  19. A quotation from John Adams

    Our Passions, Ambition, Avarice, Love, Resentment &c possess so much metaphysical Subtilty and so much overpowering Eloquence, that they insinuate themselves into the Understanding and the Conscience and convert both to their Party. And I may be deceived as much as any of them, when I Say, that Power must never be trusted without a Check.

    John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
    Letter (1816-02-02) to Thomas Jefferson

    More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/34664/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #checksandbalances #conscience #emotion #intellect #power #regulation #restraint #selfdeception #selfdelusion #trust #abuseofpower #powercorrupts #bestintentions #selftrust #selfawareness

  20. A quotation from John Adams

    Our Passions, Ambition, Avarice, Love, Resentment &c possess so much metaphysical Subtilty and so much overpowering Eloquence, that they insinuate themselves into the Understanding and the Conscience and convert both to their Party. And I may be deceived as much as any of them, when I Say, that Power must never be trusted without a Check.

    John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
    Letter (1816-02-02) to Thomas Jefferson

    More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/34664/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #checksandbalances #conscience #emotion #intellect #power #regulation #restraint #selfdeception #selfdelusion #trust #abuseofpower #powercorrupts #bestintentions #selftrust #selfawareness

  21. A quotation from Eric Hoffer

    Much of man’s thinking is propaganda of his appetites.

    Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
    Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 261 (1955)

    More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/82357/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #appetite #desire #emotion #irrationality #passion #propaganda #selfdeception #selfdelusion #thinking #thought

  22. A quotation from Eric Hoffer

    Much of man’s thinking is propaganda of his appetites.

    Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
    Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 261 (1955)

    More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/82357/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #appetite #desire #emotion #irrationality #passion #propaganda #selfdeception #selfdelusion #thinking #thought

  23. A quotation from Eric Hoffer

    Much of man’s thinking is propaganda of his appetites.

    Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
    Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 261 (1955)

    More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/82357/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #appetite #desire #emotion #irrationality #passion #propaganda #selfdeception #selfdelusion #thinking #thought

  24. A quotation from Eric Hoffer

    Much of man’s thinking is propaganda of his appetites.

    Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
    Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 261 (1955)

    More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/82357/

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #appetite #desire #emotion #irrationality #passion #propaganda #selfdeception #selfdelusion #thinking #thought

  25. On this day in 2025 (at FB)

    #USpol #Trumpizm #HimNotUs #SmokeAndMirror #ResidentEvil #Dictatorships #SelfDelusion #AsymptomaticCarrier
    News:
    "State department signs off on bombs and missiles sales that the US claims would help Israel ‘defend its borders’"
    Comment:
    "Course not. He has no interest in ordinary people, as all his other policies demonstrate."
    If the latter could be your comment, I need to say something to you.
    Here, in Europe (especially at the "wrong side of The Iron Curtain"), we are pretty well-versed in dictatorships. Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, now Łukaszenka and Putin... They come and they go like in a political Hurricane Alley of sorts, so we know them well (those who chose to know, at least).
    And there is a particular takeaway lesson I want to convey here:

    It is not him. It never was. It is us.


    Whoever's name and face appears as the figurehead of the "current edition", is just a token. The dictatorship is us all. It is the crew that makes the ship.
    If you work for him, you are him.
    If you respect people who are him, you are him.
    If you talk to your neighbour, who is him, you are him.
    If you let your children play with his children, you are him.
    Even if you fight him, you are still him.
    Dictatorship is a highly contagious disease, and no one within its realm stays untouched.
    BUT one glorious day, it is gone.
    Halleluyah! We Are Saved And Redeemed!
    We can go back to be our great good selves!

    Because it was just him. Or maybe few scoundrels and misled simpletons, who are already dangling from the lamposts or hiding in Argentina.
    We were never part of it. True?
    TRUE?

    Not. It was not just him. It never was. It was us.


    If you worked for him, you were him.
    If you respected people who were him, you were him.
    If you talked to your neighbour, who was him, you were him.
    If you let your children play with his children, you were him.
    Even if you fought him, still. You. Were. Him.
    Unless you accept the fact, confront it, and find the way to control this resident evil in you, you will be just another asymptomatic carrier, waiting for just another "unexpected" outbreak. Which is going to happen.

  26. On this day in 2025 (at FB)

    #USpol #Trumpizm #HimNotUs #SmokeAndMirror #ResidentEvil #Dictatorships #SelfDelusion #AsymptomaticCarrier
    News:
    "State department signs off on bombs and missiles sales that the US claims would help Israel ‘defend its borders’"
    Comment:
    "Course not. He has no interest in ordinary people, as all his other policies demonstrate."
    If the latter could be your comment, I need to say something to you.
    Here, in Europe (especially at the "wrong side of The Iron Curtain"), we are pretty well-versed in dictatorships. Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, now Łukaszenka and Putin... They come and they go like in a political Hurricane Alley of sorts, so we know them well (those who chose to know, at least).
    And there is a particular takeaway lesson I want to convey here:

    It is not him. It never was. It is us.


    Whoever's name and face appears as the figurehead of the "current edition", is just a token. The dictatorship is us all. It is the crew that makes the ship.
    If you work for him, you are him.
    If you respect people who are him, you are him.
    If you talk to your neighbour, who is him, you are him.
    If you let your children play with his children, you are him.
    Even if you fight him, you are still him.
    Dictatorship is a highly contagious disease, and no one within its realm stays untouched.
    BUT one glorious day, it is gone.
    Halleluyah! We Are Saved And Redeemed!
    We can go back to be our great good selves!

    Because it was just him. Or maybe few scoundrels and misled simpletons, who are already dangling from the lamposts or hiding in Argentina.
    We were never part of it. True?
    TRUE?

    Not. It was not just him. It never was. It was us.


    If you worked for him, you were him.
    If you respected people who were him, you were him.
    If you talked to your neighbour, who was him, you were him.
    If you let your children play with his children, you were him.
    Even if you fought him, still. You. Were. Him.
    Unless you accept the fact, confront it, and find the way to control this resident evil in you, you will be just another asymptomatic carrier, waiting for just another "unexpected" outbreak. Which is going to happen.

  27. A quotation from Samuel Johnson

    Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by the advantages of society: he that never compares his notions with those of others, readily acquiesces in his first thoughts, and very seldom discovers the objections which may be raised against his opinions; he, therefore, often thinks himself in possession of truth, when he is only fondling an errour long since exploded. He that has neither companions nor rivals in his studies, will always applaud his own progress, and think highly of his performances, because he knows not that others have equalled or excelled him. And I am afraid it may be added, that the student who withdraws himself from the world, will soon feel that ardour extinguished which praise or emulation had enkindled, and take the advantage of secrecy to sleep, rather than to labour.

    Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
    Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

    More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81496…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #study #studygroup #argument #collaboration #company #debate #education #error #interaction #isolation #learning #motivation #realitycheck #selfcongratulations #selfcontrol #selfcorrection #selfcriticism #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfeducation #selfmotivation #selfpolicing #selfpraising #selfrationalization #selfrighteousness #selfsufficiency #society #solitude #truth

  28. A quotation from Samuel Johnson

    Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by the advantages of society: he that never compares his notions with those of others, readily acquiesces in his first thoughts, and very seldom discovers the objections which may be raised against his opinions; he, therefore, often thinks himself in possession of truth, when he is only fondling an errour long since exploded. He that has neither companions nor rivals in his studies, will always applaud his own progress, and think highly of his performances, because he knows not that others have equalled or excelled him. And I am afraid it may be added, that the student who withdraws himself from the world, will soon feel that ardour extinguished which praise or emulation had enkindled, and take the advantage of secrecy to sleep, rather than to labour.

    Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
    Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

    More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81496…

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  29. A quotation from Samuel Johnson

    Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by the advantages of society: he that never compares his notions with those of others, readily acquiesces in his first thoughts, and very seldom discovers the objections which may be raised against his opinions; he, therefore, often thinks himself in possession of truth, when he is only fondling an errour long since exploded. He that has neither companions nor rivals in his studies, will always applaud his own progress, and think highly of his performances, because he knows not that others have equalled or excelled him. And I am afraid it may be added, that the student who withdraws himself from the world, will soon feel that ardour extinguished which praise or emulation had enkindled, and take the advantage of secrecy to sleep, rather than to labour.

    Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
    Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

    More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81496…

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  30. A quotation from Samuel Johnson

    Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by the advantages of society: he that never compares his notions with those of others, readily acquiesces in his first thoughts, and very seldom discovers the objections which may be raised against his opinions; he, therefore, often thinks himself in possession of truth, when he is only fondling an errour long since exploded. He that has neither companions nor rivals in his studies, will always applaud his own progress, and think highly of his performances, because he knows not that others have equalled or excelled him. And I am afraid it may be added, that the student who withdraws himself from the world, will soon feel that ardour extinguished which praise or emulation had enkindled, and take the advantage of secrecy to sleep, rather than to labour.

    Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
    Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

    More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81496…

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  31. A quotation from Samuel Johnson

    Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by the advantages of society: he that never compares his notions with those of others, readily acquiesces in his first thoughts, and very seldom discovers the objections which may be raised against his opinions; he, therefore, often thinks himself in possession of truth, when he is only fondling an errour long since exploded. He that has neither companions nor rivals in his studies, will always applaud his own progress, and think highly of his performances, because he knows not that others have equalled or excelled him. And I am afraid it may be added, that the student who withdraws himself from the world, will soon feel that ardour extinguished which praise or emulation had enkindled, and take the advantage of secrecy to sleep, rather than to labour.

    Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
    Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

    More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81496…

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  32. A quotation from Erich Fromm

    Most people are not even aware of their need to conform. They live under the illusion that they follow their own ideas and inclinations, that they are individualists, that they have arrived at their opinions as the result of their own thinking — and that it just happens that their ideas are the same as those of the majority. The consensus of all serves as a proof for the correctness of “their” ideas.

    Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
    The Art of Loving, ch. 2 (1956)

    More about this quote: wist.info/fromm-erich/80468/

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  33. A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

    Marriage is a step so grave and decisive that it attracts light-headed, variable men by its very awfulness. They have been so tried among the inconstant squalls and currents, so often sailed for islands in the air or lain becalmed with burning heart, that they will risk all for solid ground below their feet. Desperate pilots, they run their sea-sick, weary bark upon the dashing rocks. It seems as if marriage were the royal road through life, and realised, on the instant, what we have all dreamed on summer Sundays when the bells ring, or at night when we cannot sleep for the desire of living. They think it will sober and change them. Like those who join a brotherhood, they fancy it needs but an act to be out of the coil and clamour for ever. But this is a wile of the devil’s. To the end, spring winds will sow disquietude, passing faces leave a regret behind them, and the whole world keep calling and calling in their ears. For marriage is like life in this — that it is a field of battle, and not a bed of roses.

    Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
    Essay (1876-08), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 1,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 34

    More info about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…

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  34. A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

    Marriage is a step so grave and decisive that it attracts light-headed, variable men by its very awfulness. They have been so tried among the inconstant squalls and currents, so often sailed for islands in the air or lain becalmed with burning heart, that they will risk all for solid ground below their feet. Desperate pilots, they run their sea-sick, weary bark upon the dashing rocks. It seems as if marriage were the royal road through life, and realised, on the instant, what we have all dreamed on summer Sundays when the bells ring, or at night when we cannot sleep for the desire of living. They think it will sober and change them. Like those who join a brotherhood, they fancy it needs but an act to be out of the coil and clamour for ever. But this is a wile of the devil’s. To the end, spring winds will sow disquietude, passing faces leave a regret behind them, and the whole world keep calling and calling in their ears. For marriage is like life in this — that it is a field of battle, and not a bed of roses.

    Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
    Essay (1876-08), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 1,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 34

    More info about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…

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  35. A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

    Marriage is a step so grave and decisive that it attracts light-headed, variable men by its very awfulness. They have been so tried among the inconstant squalls and currents, so often sailed for islands in the air or lain becalmed with burning heart, that they will risk all for solid ground below their feet. Desperate pilots, they run their sea-sick, weary bark upon the dashing rocks. It seems as if marriage were the royal road through life, and realised, on the instant, what we have all dreamed on summer Sundays when the bells ring, or at night when we cannot sleep for the desire of living. They think it will sober and change them. Like those who join a brotherhood, they fancy it needs but an act to be out of the coil and clamour for ever. But this is a wile of the devil’s. To the end, spring winds will sow disquietude, passing faces leave a regret behind them, and the whole world keep calling and calling in their ears. For marriage is like life in this — that it is a field of battle, and not a bed of roses.

    Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
    Essay (1876-08), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 1,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 34

    More info about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #dream #effort #marriage #matrimony #regret #romance #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfhelp #selfimprovement #struggle #temptation

  36. A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

    Marriage is a step so grave and decisive that it attracts light-headed, variable men by its very awfulness. They have been so tried among the inconstant squalls and currents, so often sailed for islands in the air or lain becalmed with burning heart, that they will risk all for solid ground below their feet. Desperate pilots, they run their sea-sick, weary bark upon the dashing rocks. It seems as if marriage were the royal road through life, and realised, on the instant, what we have all dreamed on summer Sundays when the bells ring, or at night when we cannot sleep for the desire of living. They think it will sober and change them. Like those who join a brotherhood, they fancy it needs but an act to be out of the coil and clamour for ever. But this is a wile of the devil’s. To the end, spring winds will sow disquietude, passing faces leave a regret behind them, and the whole world keep calling and calling in their ears. For marriage is like life in this — that it is a field of battle, and not a bed of roses.

    Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
    Essay (1876-08), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 1,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 34

    More info about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #dream #effort #marriage #matrimony #regret #romance #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfhelp #selfimprovement #struggle #temptation

  37. A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

    Marriage is a step so grave and decisive that it attracts light-headed, variable men by its very awfulness. They have been so tried among the inconstant squalls and currents, so often sailed for islands in the air or lain becalmed with burning heart, that they will risk all for solid ground below their feet. Desperate pilots, they run their sea-sick, weary bark upon the dashing rocks. It seems as if marriage were the royal road through life, and realised, on the instant, what we have all dreamed on summer Sundays when the bells ring, or at night when we cannot sleep for the desire of living. They think it will sober and change them. Like those who join a brotherhood, they fancy it needs but an act to be out of the coil and clamour for ever. But this is a wile of the devil’s. To the end, spring winds will sow disquietude, passing faces leave a regret behind them, and the whole world keep calling and calling in their ears. For marriage is like life in this — that it is a field of battle, and not a bed of roses.

    Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
    Essay (1876-08), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 1,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 34

    More info about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…

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  38. A quotation from Samuel Johnson

    Every man naturally persuades himself that he can keep his resolutions, nor is he convinced of his imbecility but by length of time and frequency of experiment. This opinion of our own constancy is so prevalent, that we always despise him who suffers his general and settled purpose to be overpowered by an occasional desire.

    Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
    Prayers and Meditations, 1770-06-01 (1785)

    More info about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/19730…

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  39. A quotation from Ben Franklin

    A Flatterer never seems absurd:
    The Flatter’d always take his Word.

    Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
    Poor Richard (1740 ed.)

    Sourcing, notes: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/78…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #benfranklin #benjaminfranklin #poorrichardsalmanac #absurdity #ego #flatterer #flattery #pride #selfdelusion

  40. A quotation from Mignon McLaughlin

    There are a handful of people whom money won’t spoil, and we all count ourselves among them.

    Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
    The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 9 (1966)

    Sourcing, notes: wist.info/mclaughlin-mignon/77…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #corruption #money #riches #selfconfidence #selfdelusion #selfimage #spoil #uniqueness #wealth #paragon #virtue

  41. A quotation from Mignon McLaughlin

    There are a handful of people whom money won’t spoil, and we all count ourselves among them.

    Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
    The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 9 (1966)

    Sourcing, notes: wist.info/mclaughlin-mignon/77…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #corruption #money #riches #selfconfidence #selfdelusion #selfimage #spoil #uniqueness #wealth #paragon #virtue

  42. A quotation from Mignon McLaughlin

    There are a handful of people whom money won’t spoil, and we all count ourselves among them.

    Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
    The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 9 (1966)

    Sourcing, notes: wist.info/mclaughlin-mignon/77…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #corruption #money #riches #selfconfidence #selfdelusion #selfimage #spoil #uniqueness #wealth #paragon #virtue

  43. A quotation from Eric Hoffer

    We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.

    Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
    Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 70 (1955)

    Sourcing, notes: wist.info/hoffer-eric/16589/

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  44. A quotation from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

    It is the peculiarity of the bore that he is the last person to find himself out.

    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
    Over the Teacups, ch. 4 (1891)

    Sourcing, notes: wist.info/holmes-sr-oliver-wen…

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  45. #USpol #Trumpizm #HimNotUs #SmokeAndMirror #ResidentEvil #Dictatorships #SelfDelusion #AsymptomaticCarrier

    News:

    State department signs off on bombs and missiles sales that the US claims would help Israel ‘defend its borders’

    Comment:

    Course not. He has no interest in ordinary people, as all his other policies demonstrate.

    If the latter could be your comment, I need to say something to you.

    Here, in Europe (especially at the "wrong side of The Iron Curtain"), we are pretty well-versed in dictatorships. Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, now Łukaszenka and Putin... They come and they go like in a political Hurricane Alley of sorts, so we know them well (those who chose to know, at least).

    And there is a particular takeaway lesson I want to convey here:

    It is not him. It never was. It is us.


    Whoever's name and face appears as the figurehead of the current edition, is just a token. The dictatorship is us all. It is the crew that makes the ship.

    If you work for him, you are him.
    If you respect people who are him, you are him.
    If you talk to your neighbour, who is him, you are him.
    If you let your children play with his children, you are him.
    Even if you fight him, you are still him.

    Dictatorship is a highly contagious disease, and no one within its realm stays untouched.

    BUT one glorious day, it is gone.
    Halleluyah! We Are Saved And Redeemed!
    We can go back to be our great good selves!

    Because it was just him. Or maybe few scoundrels and misled simpletons, who are already dangling from the lamposts or hiding in Argentina.

    We were never part of it. True?
    TRUE?

    Not. It was not just him. It never was. It was us.


    If you worked for him, you were him.
    If you respected people who were him, you were him.
    If you talked to your neighbour, who was him, you were him.
    If you let your children play with his children, you were him.
    Even if you fought him, still. You. Were. Him.

    Unless you accept the fact, confront it, and find the way to control this resident evil in you, you will be just another asymptomatic carrier, waiting for just another unexpected outbreak. Which is going to happen.