“True beauty is rare, and seldom recognized by the one who possesses it.”
Source: A Voice in the Wind
“One who possesses arrogance as a dominant personality trait, rarely has close friends.”
1989
Last update Oct. 14, 2023.
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Related quotes
“This is the worst trait of minds rendered arrogant by prosperity, they hate those whom they have injured.”
Hoc habent pessimum animi magna fortuna insolentes: quos laeserunt et oderunt.
De Ira (On Anger): Book 2, cap. 33, line 6
Alternate translation: Men whose spirit has grown arrogant from the great favour of fortune have this most serious fault – those whom they have injured they also hate. (translation by John W. Basore)
Alternate translation: Whom they have injured they also hate. (translator unknown).
Moral Essays
The Society of Mind (1987)
Erich Fromm
(1900–1980) German social psychologist and psychoanalyst
Source: Man for Himself (1947), Ch. 3; in Ch. 2 of his later work The Art of Loving (1956) a similar statement is made :
Context: Care and responsibility are constituent elements of love, but without respect for and knowledge of the beloved person, love deteriorates into domination and possessiveness. Respect is not fear and awe; it denotes, in accordance with the root of the word (respicere = to look at), the ability to see a person as he is, to be aware of his individuality and uniqueness. To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibilty would be blind if they were not guided by the knowledge of the person's individuality.
Tom Lehrer
(1928) American singer-songwriter and mathematician
Responding to a question on whether he considered himself an atheist or an agnostic, in an interview at celebathiests.com (June 1996) http://web.archive.org/web/20061027073138/http://www.celebatheists.com/index.php?title=Tom_Lehrer
Context: No one is more dangerous than someone who thinks he has "The Truth". To be an atheist is almost as arrogant as to be a fundamentalist. But then again, I can get pretty arrogant.
“He has no close friends that I know of.”
Mahathir bin Mohamad
(1925) Prime Minister of Malaysia
Daim Zainuddin, as quoted in <i>Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things</i>, Vol I https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789834359607.
Ali
(601–661) cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
As quoted in "Considerations By the Way" in Conduct of Life by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Variant translation: Believe me, a thousand friends suffice thee not; In a single enemy thou hast more than enough
Louis L'Amour
(1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer
Source: Education of a Wandering Man (1989), Ch. 1
Context: A great book begins with an idea; a great life, with a determination.
My life may not be great to others, but to me it has been one of steady progression, never dull, often exciting, often hungry, tired, and lonely, but always learning. Somewhere back down the years I decided, or my nature decided for me, that I would be a teller of stories.
Decisions had to be made and there was nobody but me to make them. My course altered a number of times but never deviated from the destination I had decided upon. Whether this was altogether a matter of choice I do not know. Perhaps my early reading and the storytelling at home had preconditioned me for the role I adopted.
Somewhere along the line I had fallen in love with learning, and it became a lifelong romance. Early on I discovered it was fun to follow along the byways of history to find those treasures that await any searcher. It may be that all later decisions followed naturally from that first one.
One thing has always been true: That book or that person who can give me an idea or a new slant on an old idea is my friend.