When people get rich, they cut themselves off from the context that has earned them these riches - the context of the common men. They forget they are part of society.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the disconnect between the wealthy and the common people.
N. R. Narayana Murthy highlights a social phenomenon where individuals who attain wealth may lose touch with their roots and the societal context that helped them succeed. This disconnection can lead to a lack of understanding and empathy towards the struggles faced by the common man, reminding us of the importance of remaining grounded and acknowledging our shared human experience.
In practice
During a talk on social responsibility, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of staying connected to the community.
When you are in business for a long time, you go through good times and bad times. When you go through bad times, you learn to control costs, satisfy customers better, satisfy employees better and become more transparent. Therefore, you build character in the company.
India is known for much development that has happened since our independence, but at the same time, we have also failed on many levels. It is the responsibility of the future generation to ensure that all these failures are corrected and help create a civilised society with equal opportunities for one and all.
The unique instrument to eradicate poverty and usher in prosperity is our youth.
The biggest impediment to growth is in our minds and not in the world outside, and only constant in the world is change.
The future of any corporation is as good as the value system of the leaders and followers in the organization.
If longevity is the best index to measure a company, a basic requirement is the ability of the corporation to generate new and new leaders.
What being a socialist means is... that you hold out... a vision of society where poverty is absolutely unnecessary, where international relations are not based on greed... but on cooperation... where human beings can own the means of production and work together rather than having to work as semi-slaves to other people who can hire and fire.
If God existed, and if He cared for humankind, He would never have given us religion.
I though about what death is, what a loss is. A sharp pain that lessens with time, but can never quite heal over. A scar. The idea occurred to me there on the site. Take a knife and cut open the earth, and with time the grass would heal it. As if you cut open the rock and polished it.
The cat joined the Re-education Committee and was very active in it for some days. She was seen one dag sitting on a roof and talking to some sparrows who were just out of her reach. She was telling them that all animals were now comrades and that any sparrow who chose could come and perch on her paw; but the sparrows kept their distance.
The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That is a commonplace truth, but one to which my studies are always bringing me back. It is the central point in my conception. I see it at the end of all my reflections.
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.
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