“Goodness is achieved not in a vacuum, but in the company of other men, attended by love.”
Dangling Man (1944) [Penguin Classics, 1996, ISBN 0-140-18935-1], p. 84
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Saul Bellow 103
Canadian-born American writer 1915–2005Related quotes

“I look in your eyes
I realize what you've sold me
is love in a vacuum.
Love in a vacuum.”
"Love In A Vacuum" · Official video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6eeURFNmxI
Song lyrics, Voices Carry (1985)

“I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.”
Journal to Stella (May 17, 1711)

“As we expand our knowledge of good books, we shrink the circle of men whose company we appreciate.”

Lucretia, Part II, Chapter XII
Context: The most useless creature that ever yawned at a club, or counted the vermin on his rags under the suns of Calabria, has no excuse for want of intellect. What men want is not talent, it is purpose,—in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labour.

This is from a set of maxims which Washington copied out in his own hand as a school-boy: "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/the-rules-of-civility/" Rule # 56 written out by Washington ca. 1744:
: These maxims originated in the late sixteenth century in France and were popularly circulated during Washington's time. Washington wrote out a copy of the 110 Rules in his school book when he was about sixteen-years old... During the days before mere hero worship had given place to understanding and comprehension of the fineness of Washington's character, of his powerful influence among men, and of the epoch-making nature of the issues he so largely shaped, it was assumed that Washington himself composed the maxims, or at least that he compiled them. It is a satisfaction to find that his consideration for others, his respect for and deference to those deserving such treatment, his care of his own body and tongue, and even his reverence for his Maker, all were early inculcated in him by precepts which were the common practice in decent society the world over. These very maxims had been in use in France for a century and a half, and in England for a century, before they were set as a task for the schoolboy Washington.
:* Charles Moore in his Introduction to George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation (1926) http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/civility/index.html, edited by Charles Moore, xi-xv
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