The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Laissez-faire, supply and demand-one begins to be weary of all that. Leave all to egotism, to ravenous greed of money, of pleasure, of applause-it is the gospel of despair.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote criticizes the blind adherence to market forces and individual greed, suggesting it leads to despair.
Thomas Carlyle's quote expresses a profound skepticism toward laissez-faire economic principles and the unrestrained pursuit of personal gain, whether in terms of wealth, pleasure, or recognition. He warns that allowing egotism and greed to guide society is akin to endorsing a destructive ideology that ultimately results in despair rather than fulfillment or prosperity.
Themes
Laisser-FaireGreedDespairEconomicsPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the ethical implications of capitalism.
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There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
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For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
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Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
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Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
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