Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
Belief is with them mechanical, voluntary: they believe what they are paid for - they swear to that which turns to account. Do you suppose, that after years spent in this manner, they have any feeling left answering to the difference between truth and falsehood?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote discusses how financial incentives can corrupt genuine belief and understanding of truth.
William Hazlitt illustrates a cynical view of belief, suggesting that people often align their convictions with the interests that profit them. When individuals are conditioned to support specific narratives for monetary gain, their ability to discern truth from falsehood diminishes over time, leading to a hollow existence lacking authentic feeling.
Themes
BeliefTruthFalsehoodIncentivesPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about ethics, this quote can highlight the impact of financial gain on personal beliefs.
More from William Hazlitt
All quotes →The world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth.
William HazlittRead
Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.
William HazlittRead
We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.
William HazlittRead
There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our firends. It is little better than a piece of quackery. The truth is, we think of them as we please, that is, as they please or displease us.
William HazlittRead
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.
William HazlittRead
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