“Some of the worst tyrannies of our day genuinely are "vowed" to the service of mankind, yet can function only by pitting neighbor against neighbor. The all-seeing eye of a totalitarian regime is usually the watchful eye of the next-door neighbor.”
Source: The Ordeal of Change (1963), Ch. 11: "Brotherhood"
Context: It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor. There may even be a certain antagonism between love of humanity and love of neighbor; a low capacity for getting along with those near us often goes hand in hand with a high receptivity to the idea of the brotherhood of men. About a hundred years ago a Russian landowner by the name of Petrashevsky recorded a remarkable conclusion: "Finding nothing worthy of my attachment either among women or among men, I have vowed myself to the service of mankind." He became a follower of Fourier, and installed a phalanstery on his estate. The end of the experiment was sad, but what one might perhaps have expected: the peasants — Petrashevsky's neighbors-burned the phalanstery.
Some of the worst tyrannies of our day genuinely are "vowed" to the service of mankind, yet can function only by pitting neighbor against neighbor. The all-seeing eye of a totalitarian regime is usually the watchful eye of the next-door neighbor. In a Communist state love of neighbor may be classed as counter-revolutionary.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Eric Hoffer240
American philosopher 1898–1983Related quotes
Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)
Page 186
Post-Presidency, Our Endangered Values (2005)
Gary Johnson (1953) American politician, businessman, and 29th Governor of New Mexico
Quip at Fox/Google debate
YouTube
2012-09-22
http://youtu.be/_hYAWHpfLpc
2012-02-24
Miscellaneous
Alan Bean (1932–2018) American astronaut and painter
Statement on significations in his painting "Reaching for the Stars", at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, Florida, USA.
After the moon, art is his mission (1997)
“All men are moral. Only their neighbors are not.”
John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent
Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part Two, Chapter XI
Walter Bagehot (1826–1877) British journalist, businessman, and essayist
Sir Robert Peel
Biographical Studies (1907)
“All mankind, right down to those you most despise, are your neighbors.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …
"Lost in Non-Translation" (1989), in Magic (Voyager, 1997) p. 270
General sources
Françoise Sagan book Dans un mois, dans un an
Dans un mois, dans un an (1957, Those Without Shadows, translated 1957)
Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (1963) Mongolian politician
Source: "Locked Between Two Large Neighbors, Mongolia Seeks to Connect With the World" in IPI Global Observatory https://theglobalobservatory.org/2013/10/locked-between-two-large-neighbors-mongolia-seeks-to-connect-with-the-world/ (4 October 2013) <br class="br">Context: This is the concept after 1990.