“And this is the whole shabby secret: to some men, the sight of an achievement is a reproach, a reminder that their own lives are irrational, and that there is no loophole - no escape from reason and reality. Their resentment is the cornered Dionysian element baring its teeth.”

— Ayn Rand

Apollo and Dionysus (1969)

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Ayn Rand 322

Russian-American novelist and philosopher 1905–1982

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Context: A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next to escape the censures of the world: if the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applauses of the public: a man is more sure of his conduct, when the verdict which he passes upon his own behaviour is thus warranted and confirmed by the opinion of all that know him.

On "Sir Roger", in The Spectator No. 122 (20 July 1711).

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I said to myself
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Though I'm far from there now"
After such excuses, my eyes were opened
All I could do was to live in the present time.”

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pg 52.
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“And this is the whole shabby secret: to some men, the sight of an achievement is a reproach, a reminder that their own lives are irrational, and that there is no loophole - no escape from reason and reality. Their resentment is the cornered Dionysian element baring its teeth.”

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Ayn Rand 322

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