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143. Diversion.--Men are entrusted from infancy with the care of their honour, their property, their friends, and even with the property and the honou
by erwan 8y ago
143. Diversion.--Men are entrusted from infancy with the
care of their honour, their property, their friends, and
even with the property and the honour of their friends.
They are overwhelmed with business, with the study of
languages, and with physical exercise; and they are made
to understand that they cannot be happy unless their
health, their honour, their fortune and that of their
friends be in good condition, and that a single thing
wanting will make them unhappy.
Thus they are given cares and business which make them
bustle about from break of day. It is, you will
exclaim, a strange way to make them happy!
What more could be done to make them miserable?
--Indeed! what could be done? We should only have
to relieve them from all these cares; for then they
would see themselves: they would reflect on what they are,
whence they came, whither they go, and thus we cannot employ
and divert them too much.
And this is why, after having given them so much
business, we advise them, if they have some time for
relaxation, to employ it in amusement, in play,
and to be always fully occupied.
- DoctorOetker 8y agothat's an excellent quote, and reminds me of what I wrote at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17936282 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17936282 (just ignore the first sentence/movie reference) Edit: woops!
- sp332 8y agoYou seem to have linked your entire account instead of a particular comment.
- DoctorOetker 8y agothanks for pointing it out
- phkahler 8y agoPerhaps evolution has provided this mental state. Self, family, clan, tribe. Promote these things relentlessly or you will go extinct. There is always something you can do, so idleness is to be disdained. Indeed, much like apoptosis at the cellular level in response to defect, one in deep social isolation and despair for lack of purpose may even withdraw from the game of life entirely. Evolution at work.