Men I find to be a Sort of Being very badly constructed, as they are generally more easily provok'd than reconcil'd, more disposed to do Mischief to each other than make Reparation, much more easily deceiv'd than undeceiv'd, and having more Pride and even Pleasure in killing than begetting one another, for without a Blush they assemble in great armies as Noon Day to destroy...but they creep into Corners, or cover themselves with the Darkness of night, when they mean to beget, as being asham'd of a virtuous Action. A virtuous Action it would be, and vicious one the killing of them, if the Spevies were really wurth producing or preserving; but of this I...doubt.~Ben Franklin in a letter to Joseph Priestley
What men call friendship is only a reciprocal conciliation of interests, an exchange of good offices; it is in short simply a form of barter from which self-love always expects to gain something.~Duc De La Rochefoucauld,
Refelxions ou sentences et maximes morales (1665)
The present age is essentially a sensible, reflective age, devoid of passion, flaring up in superficial, short-lived enthusiasm and prudentially relaxing in indolence.~Soren Kierkagaard, "The Present Age."
* * *
Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well~Peter Ustinov
