“The business of the world absorbs, corrupts, and degrades one mind, while in another it feeds and nurses the noblest independency integrity, and generosity. Pleasure is a poison to some, and a healthful refreshment to others.”

Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XXII : Grand Master Architect, p. 194
Context: To the impure, the dishonest, the false-hearted, the corrupt and the sensual, occasions come every day, and in every scene, and through every avenue of thought and imagination. He is prepared to capitulate before the first approach is commenced; and sends out the white flag when the enemy's advance comes in sight of his walls. He makes occasions; or, if opportunities come not, evil thoughts come, and he throws wide open the gates of his heart and welcomes those bad visitors, and entertains them with a lavish hospitality.
The business of the world absorbs, corrupts, and degrades one mind, while in another it feeds and nurses the noblest independency integrity, and generosity. Pleasure is a poison to some, and a healthful refreshment to others. To one. the world is a great harmony, like a noble strain of music with infinite modulations; to another, it is a huge factory, the clash and clang of whose machinery jars upon his ears and frets him to madness.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The business of the world absorbs, corrupts, and degrades one mind, while in another it feeds and nurses the noblest in…" by Albert Pike?
Albert Pike photo
Albert Pike 88
Confederate States Army general and Freemason 1809–1891

Related quotes

Cassandra Clare photo

“What is one person's pleasure is another's poison….”

Source: Clockwork Prince

Aristotle photo

“All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
John Locke photo

“Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”

Two Treatises of Government (1689)
Source: Second Treatise of Government, Ch. II, sec. 6
Context: The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.

Aristotle photo
Aristotle photo
Felix Adler photo

“As the light of morning strikes now one peak and then another, some being illuminated while others are in the shadow, so the light of the essential moral principle shines now upon one duty and then upon another, while others are in the shadow.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 4 : Moral Ideals
Founding Address (1876), Life and Destiny (1913)

Leonardo Da Vinci photo
Theodore Dalrymple photo

“It is easy to be lenient at other people's expense, and call it generosity of mind.”

Theodore Dalrymple (1949) English doctor and writer

It is right to imprison drug addicts - argues Theodore Dalrymple http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/001744.php (March 18, 2008).
The Social Affairs Unit (2006 - 2008)

Joseph Addison photo

Related topics