...All endeavours which are directed to a purely worldly end...contain within themselves the germs of their own corruption.
Interpretation
The pursuit of material goals often leads to inevitable corruption or failure.
This quote by T. H. White suggests that when efforts are solely focused on worldly or materialistic objectives, they are prone to moral decline and negative consequences. It highlights the idea that a lack of higher purpose in endeavors can result in their eventual downfall, emphasizing the importance of guiding principles and integrity in all pursuits.
In practice
In a discussion about ethical business practices, one could reference this quote to emphasize the importance of morality over profit.
Kay was older and bigger than the Wart, so that he was bound to win in the end, but he was more nervous and imaginative. He could imagine the effect of each blow that was aimed at him, and this weakened his defense. Wart was only an infuriated hurricane.
There is a thing called knowledge of the world, which people do not have until they are middle-aged. It is something which cannot be taught to younger people, because it is not logical and does not obey laws which are constant. It has no rules. Only, in the long years which bring women to the middle of life, a sense of balance develops...when she is beginning to hate her used body, she suddenly finds that she can do it. She can go on living.
The destiny of man is to unite, not to divide.
He did not like the grown-ups who talked down to him, but the ones who went on talking in their usual way, leaving him to leap along in their wake, jumping at meanings, guessing, clutching at known words, and chuckling at complicated jokes as they suddenly dawned. He had the glee of the porpoise then, pouring and leaping through strange seas.
There is one fairly good reason for fighting - and that is, if the other man starts it. You see, wars are a great wickedness, perhaps the greatest wickedness of a wicked species. They are so wicked that they must not be allowed. When you can be perfectly certain that the other man started them, then is the time when you might have a sort of duty to stop them.
Life is too bitter already, without territories and wars and noble feuds
From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.
In dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in a pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind, old men as guides.
The more I see of Mankind, the more I prefer my dog.
Slave camps under the flag of freedom, massacres justified by philanthropy or the taste of the superhuman, cripple judgment. On the day when crime puts on the apparel of innocence, through a curious reversal peculiar to our age, it is innocence that is called on to justify itself. The purpose of this essay is to accept and study that strange challenge.
I have neither permitted, nor shall I permit, the things which have been settled by the holy fathers to be violated by any innovation.
I believe in the freedom of expression, unequivocally - though, as I have written before, I wish more people would understand that freedom of expression is not freedom from consequence.
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