Take away grievances from some people and you remove their reasons for living; most of us are nourished by hope, but a considerable minority get psychic nutrition from their resentments, and would waste away purposelessly without them.
Interpretation
Some individuals derive a sense of purpose and identity from their grievances, which can be detrimental to their well-being.
In this quote, Sydney J. Harris highlights the paradox that while most people find motivation and nourishment through hope and positivity, there exists a significant minority who fuel their existence through their resentments and grievances. This reliance on negative emotions can become a crutch, providing a misplaced sense of purpose that could lead to psychological stagnation if removed.
In practice
This quote could be shared in a mental health seminar to discuss the impact of negative emotions on well-being.
A person is either himself or not himself; is either rooted in his existence or is a fabrication; has either found his humanhood or is still playing with masks and roles and status symbols. And nobody is more aware of this difference (although unconsciously) than a child. Only an authentic person can evoke a good response in the core of the other person; only person is resonant to person.
We evaluate others with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with a Godlike compassion.
The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes them a mother - which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician.
Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.
"Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong, and we glorify it.
At it's highest level, the purpose of teaching is not to teach—it is to inspire the desire for learning. Once a student's mind is set on fire, it will find a way to provide its own fuel.
There are men and women so lonely they believe God, too, is lonely.
Barbarism is the absence of standards to which appeal can be made.
In matters of religion, it is very easy to deceive a man and very hard to undeceive him.
Now and again, it is necessary to seclude yourself among deep mountains and hidden valleys to restore your link to the source of life. Breathe in and let yourself soar to the ends of the universe; breathe out and bring the cosmos back inside. Next, breathe up all the fecundity and vibrancy of the earth. Finally, blend the breath of heaven and the breath of earth with your own, becoming the Breath of Life itself.
There comes a moment when we all must realize that life is short, and in the end the only thing that really counts is not how others see us, but how God sees us.
All the evidence of history suggests that man is indeed a rational animal, but with a near infinite capacity for folly. . . . He draws blueprints for Utopia, but never quite gets it built. In the end he plugs away obstinately with the only building material really ever at hand--his own part comic, part tragic, part cussed, but part glorious nature.
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