“In our hearts there is a ruthless dictator, ready to contemplate the misery of a thousand strangers if it will ensure the happiness of the few we love.”

— Graham Greene , book The Heart of the Matter

Source: The Heart of the Matter

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In our hearts there is a ruthless dictator, ready to contemplate the misery of a thousand strangers if it will ensure t…" by Graham Greene?

Graham Greene 164

English writer, playwright and literary critic 1904–1991

Related quotes

“Happiness, n. An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.”

Ambrose Bierce book The Devil's Dictionary

The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers — joined in the serious business of keeping our food, shelter, clothing and loved ones from combining with oxygen.”

Kurt Vonnegut book God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

"Eliot Rosewater" to a group of volunteer firemen.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965)

“Heart of oak are our ships,
Heart of oak are our men;
We always are ready.”

David Garrick (1717–1779) English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer

Hearts of Oak. Compare: "Our ships were British oak, And hearts of oak our men", S. J. Arnold, Death of Nelson.

“The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.”

Sharon Salzberg (1952) American writer

Source: Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

“All over the non-human world, with few exceptions, each being seeks the satisfaction of his own desires, if not with positive disregard for the happiness and misery of the rest of the universe, at least with sincere unconcern. There is no courtesy, sympathy, or amenity there—a cold, heartless, implacable world of strangers.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), The Preponderance of Egoism, p. 123

“The love is happiness to be only a rotting cloth in the wound of a stranger.”

Doina Ruști (1957) Romanian Writer

Source: The Phanariot Manuscript https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscrisul_fanariot

“Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

"The Science to Save Us from Science," The New York Times Magazine (19 March 1950)
1950s
Context: All who are not lunatics are agreed about certain things. That it is better to be alive than dead, better to be adequately fed than starved, better to be free than a slave. Many people desire those things only for themselves and their friends; they are quite content that their enemies should suffer. These people can only be refuted by science: Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.