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The philosopher Diogenes was sitting on a curbstone, eating bread and lentils for his supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably b
by kgwgk 7y ago
The philosopher Diogenes was sitting on a curbstone, eating bread and lentils for his supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus, "If you would learn to be subservient to the king, you would not have to live on lentils." Said Diogenes, "Learn to live on lentils, and you will not have to cultivate the king."
- librish 7y agoRight. Spend 5 minutes flattering the king, and benefit from the outsized rewards from it.
- onion2k 7y agoSpend 5 minutes flattering the king, and benefit from the outsized rewards from it. Sure. The first time. But the king isn't stupid. He'll make you more and more subservient until eventually you'll be flattering him for bread and lentils else you'll be put in prison. People in power do that a lot.
- librish 7y agoIn this story it sounds like the king was kind of stupid. And if the deal is no longer good, just walk away, but now with more options than OP.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- jdsully 7y agoThe great thing about business unlike monarchies is there is always more than one king. Go find another one.
- oarsinsync 7y agoThe Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is largely based around this topic as well. Giving up who you really are can be a very high price to pay just to be able to receive some (more) money.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- eeZah7Ux 7y agoThe same Ayn Rand who was living off social security? Oh the irony...
- purple_ducks 7y agoI think Ayn Rand and her writings were a pox on modern life and it is unfortunate she is held in regard by anyone, let alone intelligent people... However, living off social security wasn't really ironic given that she viewed the social security payouts as reimbursement for the (what she considered unjust) payroll taxes she had been forced to pay. Also, being selfish was central to her philosophy so this was in keeping with it.
- oarsinsync 7y agoI see this perspective a lot - having only read The Fountainhead, I don't understand it at all, and suspect this is largely based off her other works (including Atlas Shrugged)? My interpretation of The Fountainhead was as I described previously - the importance of staying true to who you are, even if this results in missing out on riches (or goes against popular opinion).
- andy_boot 7y agoPersonally, I agree with your summary of the Fountainhead. If you choose to read Atlas Shrugged, however, her opinions start to get more extreme and unsettling.
- saalweachter 7y agoI actually managed to read _The Fountainhead_, and found it enjoyable enough, without realizing it was supposed to be a libertarian manifesto. I usually bring this up to give people a baseline in explaining how loud the preaching eventually got in the _Sword of Truth_ series. _Atlas Shrugged_ is one of the few books I couldn't finish once started; the characters were just too obnoxiously stupid.
- groby_b 7y agoExcept our intrepid hero didn't want to live on lentils, did he? He signed up specifically for a large amount of money in form of stock - live-changing, in fact. At that point, you have to accept that never compromising is not your winning strategy - because the people handing out the money want something in return, and it's not your charming personality.