One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
No society ever seems to have succumbed to boredom. Man has developed an obvious capacity for surviving the pompous reiteration of the commonplace.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that societies have a remarkable ability to endure boredom and mundane repetition over time.
John Kenneth Galbraith highlights the human capacity to adapt to and survive through the monotony of everyday life. Despite the repetitive nature of social experiences, people find ways to cope with and even thrive amidst the ordinary, indicating resilience and the ability to overlook the tedious aspects of existence.
In practice
This quote is perfect to inspire a group discussion on societal norms.
One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.
People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.
Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death.
Because in some men it is in them to give up everything personal at some time, before it ferments and poisons--throw it to some human being or some human idea. They have to.
Man only remains hypnotised with the false idea of an ego. When this ghost is off from us, all dreams vanish, and then it is found that the one Self only exists from the highest Being to a blade of grass.
They've got something they do it with, I think it's called a mocracy, and it means everyone in the whole country can say who the new Tyrant is. One man ... one vet. ... Everyone has ... the vet. Except for women, of course. And children. And criminals. And slaves. And stupid people. And people of foreign extraction. And people disapproved of for, er, various reasons. And lots of other people. But everyone apart from them. It's a very enlightened civilization.
Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.
A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but, one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.
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