Even if there were only two men left in the world and both of them saints they wouldn't be happy. One them would be bound to try and improve the other. That is the nature of things.
Interpretation
Human nature drives us to seek improvement in others, which can lead to dissatisfaction.
This quote by Frank O'Connor reflects on the inherent nature of humanity, suggesting that even in a perfect context, such as with two saints, happiness is elusive. The constant desire to improve others, and by extension, ourselves, is a fundamental aspect of human interaction that can disrupt tranquility and contentment.
In practice
In a discussion about the challenges of relationships, one might quote this to illustrate the complexity of human interactions.
All I know from my own experience is that the more loss we feel the more grateful we should be for whatever it was we had to lose. It means that we had something worth grieving for. The ones I'm sorry for are the ones that go through life not knowing what grief is.
I'm happy to respect authority when it's genuine authority, based on moral or intellectual or even technical superiority. I'm eager to follow a hero if we can find one. But I tend to resist or evade any kind of authority based merely on the power to coerce. Government, for example. The Army tried to train us to salute the uniform, not the man. Failed. I will salute the man, maybe, if I think he's worthy of it, but I don't salute uniforms anymore.
Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself.
How does it come about that what an intelligent man expresses is much stupider than what remains inside him?
If there is something comforting - religious, if you want - about paranoia, there is still also anti-paranoia, where nothing is connected to anything, a condition not many of us can bear for long.
There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy.
We should not ask, ‘What is wrong with the world?’ for that diagnosis has already been given. Rather we should ask, “What has happened to salt and light?
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