The human wish to credit good things as miraculous and to charge bad things to another account is apparently universal.
Interpretation
People naturally see good events as miracles while blaming external factors for bad events.
This quote by Christopher Hitchens captures a fundamental aspect of human psychology: our tendency to attribute positive outcomes to extraordinary forces or luck while seeking to rationalize negative experiences by placing blame elsewhere. This reflects how individuals navigate the complexities of their experiences, often favoring a worldview that highlights benevolence in fortune while dismissing personal responsibility in misfortune.
In practice
This quote can be used to illustrate a point in a psychology class about cognitive biases.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
I've wondered, though, if one of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don't want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgment. We don't want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn't remarkable, then we don't have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims instead of grateful participants.
We have to ask ourselves, 'What kind of world is it where a baby-food executive substitutes artificial flavoring and sugar for apple juice? What kind of businesses have we created when we even lie to infants?'
A yogi's brain extends from the bottom of the foot to the top of his head
All other ways of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit.
Surfing's one of the few sports that you look ahead to see what's behind.
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.