“Society mediates between the extremes of, on the one hand, intolerably strict morality and, on the other, dangerously anarchic permissiveness through an unspoken agreement whereby we are given leave to bend the rules of the strictest morality, provided we do so quietly and discreetly. Hypocrisy is the grease that keeps society functioning in an agreeable way, by allowing for human fallibility and reconciling the seemingly irreconcilable human needs for order and pleasure.” WayNeedsHumansHandsOrderGivenPleasureMoralityExtremesHypocrisyAgreementAllowingStrictUnspokenHuman NeedsGreaseFallibility Author:Janet Malcolm
“The events we most desire do not happen; or, if they do, it is neither in the time nor in the circumstances when they would have given us extreme pleasure.” IfsHappensDesireGivenPleasureEventsCircumstancesExtremesAnticipation Author:Jean de la Bruyere
“Our senses will not admit anything extreme. Too much noise confuses us, too much light dazzles us, too great distance or nearness prevents vision, too great prolixity or brevity weakens an argument, too much pleasure gives pain, too much accordance annoys.” GivingLightPainPleasureVisionToo MuchArgumentDistanceExtremesSensesNoiseAnnoyingBrevityDazzle Book:Thoughts of Blaise Pascal Source: Thoughts of Blaise Pascal
“People will invite you and seek you constantly if you learn how to give them the extreme pleasure of being clever. People adore the one who encourages them to display their conversational wares and admires the display.” PeopleIfsGivingPleasureExtremesCleverAdmireInvitesDisplayAdore Author:Margery Wilson
“The garden reconciles human art and wild nature, hard work and deep pleasure, spiritual practice and the material world. It is a magical place because it is not divided. The many divisions and polarizations that terrorize a disenchanted world find peaceful accord among mossy rock walls, rough stone paths, and trimmed bushes. Maybe a garden sometimes seems fragile, for all its earth and labor, because it achieves such an extraordinary delicate balance of nature and human life, naturalness and artificiality. It has its own liminality, its point of balance between great extremes.” WorldLifeHumansArtSometimesHardSeemsEarthSpiritualPleasurePracticePathAchieveRocksMaterialsHard WorkWallBalanceGardenLaborStonesExtraordinaryExtremesPeacefulHuman LifeRoughDivisionDividedFragileDelicateAccordReconcileFinding PeaceSpiritual PracticeMaterial WorldPolarizationArtificialityMagical PlacesDisenchanted Author:Thomas Moore