For a very long time, and among a large number of peoples, political power has belonged to the owners of the land.
Vilfredo ParetoRead
Men follow their sentiments and their self-interest, but it pleases them to imagine that they follow reason. And so they look for, and always find, some theory which, a posteriori, makes their actions appear to be logical. If that theory could be demolished scientifically, the only result would be that another theory would be substituted for the first one, and for the same purpose.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often believe they act based on reason, but in reality, they are driven by emotions and self-interest.
This quote by Vilfredo Pareto highlights the human tendency to justify actions with rational arguments, despite those actions being motivated primarily by personal interests and emotions. Pareto suggests that even if a theory is debunked, individuals will simply create another theory to rationalize their behavior, indicating that the pursuit of reason often serves to validate our inherent sentiments rather than illuminate truth.
Themes
SentimentSelf-InterestReasonTheoryHuman Behavior
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about ethics, one might quote this to illustrate how individuals often justify their actions.
More from Vilfredo Pareto
All quotes →Give me a fruitful error anytime, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections.
Vilfredo ParetoRead
Human behaviour reveals uniformities which constitute natural laws. If these uniformities did not exist, then there would be neither social science nor political economy, and even the study of history would largely be useless. In effect, if the future actions of men having nothing in common with their past actions, our knowledge of them, although possibly satisfying our curiosity by way of an interesting story, would be entirely useless to us as a guide in life.
Vilfredo ParetoRead
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