
“We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”
“We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”
Chap. III.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Part III
Context: When the happiness or misery of others depends in any respect upon our conduct, we dare not, as self–love might suggest to us, prefer the interest of one to that of many. The man within immediately calls to us, that we value ourselves too much and other people too little, and that, by doing so, we render ourselves the proper object of the contempt and indignation of our brethren. Neither is this sentiment confined to men of extraordinary magnanimity and virtue. It is deeply impressed upon every tolerably good soldier, who feels that he would become the scorn of his companions, if he could be supposed capable of shrinking from danger, or of hesitating, either to expose or to throw away his life, when the good of the service required it.
“There are only two things wrong with money: too much or too little.”
Source: The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
Inaugural address (4 March 1921).
1920s
“Happiness is a mysterious thing, to be found somewhere between too little and too much.”
Source: A Book of Simple Living
The Golden Violet - The Rose
The Golden Violet (1827)