An anxious unrest, a fierce craving desire for gain has taken possession of the commercial world, and in instances no longer rare the most precious and permanent goods of human life have been madly sacrificed in the interests of momentary enrichment.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the negative impact of greed on human life and values.
Felix Adler critiques the commercial world, noting how an anxious and insatiable desire for material gain often leads to the sacrifice of what is truly valuable in life. This observation serves as a warning against prioritizing short-term wealth over enduring human experiences and relationships, suggesting that the relentless pursuit of profit can erode the foundations of meaningful existence.
In practice
During a business ethics seminar, this quote could illustrate the dangers of greed.
I looked at it [revolver] as if it reminded me of a crime I had committed with an irrepressible smile such as rises sometimes to people’s lips in the face of great catastrophes which are beyond their grasp, the smile that comes at times on certain women’s faces while they are saying they regret the harm they have done. It is the smile of nature quietly and proudly asserting its natural right to kill.
It is impossible to read the daily press without being diverted from reality. You are full of enthusiasm for the eternal verities - life is worth living, and then out of sinful curiosity you open a newspaper. You are disillusioned and wrecked.
I am a weak and sinful man, but God put His hands on me, that is all.
A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind.
The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.
A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.
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