One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
Few can believe that suffering, especially by others, is in vain. Anything that is disagreeable must surely have beneficial economic effects.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that suffering often leads to positive outcomes, particularly in economic contexts.
John Kenneth Galbraith reflects on the idea that suffering, especially that endured by others, typically serves a purpose, and is unlikely to occur without some form of beneficial outcome. He implies that even the most unpleasant experiences can have underlying advantages, particularly in the realm of economics, challenging the belief that all suffering is pointless.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions about the importance of hardship in growth during a motivational speech.
One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.
People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.
We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect; we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore, the judgment of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy.
To have arrived on this earth as a product of a biological accident, only to depart through human arrogance, would be the ultimate irony.
Chastity - you can carry it too far.
The commandment to refrain from placing blame on our parents, deeply imprinted in us by our upbringing, skillfully performs the function of hiding essential truths from us.
A man can spend several hours sitting cross-legged in the same position if he knows that noting prevents him from changing it; but if he knows that he has to sit with his legs crossed like that, he will get cramps, his legs will twitch and strain towards where he would like to stretch them.
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