Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Alexander PopeRead
To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th' observer's sake.
Interpretation
We tend to become biased in our observations due to our personal involvement and perspectives.
This quote by Alexander Pope emphasizes how our personal experiences and positions as observers influence our interpretations of reality. When we make observations, we often allow our biases and emotional connections to color our view, leading us to prioritize our personal stake in the matter above an objective understanding.
In practice
During a discussion about a controversial topic, you might quote this to remind others of the biases that influence their views.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things.
Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare; And beauty draws us with a single hair.
An honest man's the noblest work of God.
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight;_x000D_ _x000D_ Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight.
Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes Beholds his hereditary skies.
I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world-present and in awe.
And perhaps beyond those shrouded swells another man did walk with another child on the dead gray sands. Slept but a sea apart on another beach among the bitter ashes of the world or stood in their rags lost to the same indifferent sun.
Form is all we have to help us cope with fundamentally chaotic facts and assaults. Formulating something is a great start. I trust form, trust my feeling or capacity to find the right form for something. Even if that is only by being well organized. That too is form.
The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.
The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah was a crime against God and against humanity.
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