“In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue. It is the practice of sacrificing to those whom we meet in society, all the little inconveniences and preferences which will gratify them, and deprive us of nothing worth a moment's consideration; it is the giving a pleasing and flattering turn to our expressions, which will conciliate others, and make them pleased with us as well as themselves. How cheap a price for the good will of another!” WantGivingWellsLittlesRealEndsMomentsTurnsNaturalPracticeVirtueSacrificeExpressionConsiderationSubstitutesArtificialPreferenceGood WillPolitenessFlatteringHabitualInconvenienceRenderingGood Humor Author:Thomas Jefferson
“I consider violence an uneconomical way of attaining an end. There are always better substitutes, though they may sometimes be a little less direct.” WayMayLittlesEndsSometimesViolenceDirectSubstitutes Book:Foundation Trilogy Source: Foundation Trilogy
“What causes [fragmentation] if not a need to act that specializes us and limits us to the horizon of a particular activity? Even if it turns out to be for the general interest (which generally isn't true), the activity that subordinates each of our aspects to a specific result suppresses our being as an entirety. Whoever acts substitutes a particular end for what he or she is, as a total being.” IfsNeedsEndsTurnsCausesInterestResultsParticularActivityLimitsAspectSubstitutesHorizonSubordinatesEntiretyFragmentation Author:Georges Bataille