Society Foundation

Their ineptitude came from helplessness, not malice.
(p.40 – Rearden’s family)

He never sought any loans, bonds, subsidies, land grants or legislative favors from the government. He obtained money from the men who owned it, going from door to door - from the mahogany doors of bankers to the clapboard doors of lonely farmhouses. He never talked about the public good. He merely told people that they would make big profits on his railroad.
(p.59 - Nathaniel Taggart)

“What is the most important thing on earth?”
“I’ll always bow to a coat-of-arms. I’ll always worship the symbol of nobility. Only I don’t give a damn about moth-eaten turrets and tenth-hand unicorns. The coat-of-arms of our day are to be found on billboards and in…

Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?

The Master said, “To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.”

Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?

Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.

Have no friends not equal to yourself.

When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.

The Master said, “I will not be afflicted at men’s not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men.”

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought…

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Ethics: The Three Systems

1. The Ethics of Buddha and Jesus:

• All men are equally precious.
• Resists evil only by returning good.
• Identifies virtues with love.
• Inclines in politics toward unlimited Democracy.

2. The Ethics of Macchiavelli and Nietzsche:

• Accepts the inequality of men.
• Relishes the risk of combat and conquest and rule.
• Identifies virtue with power.
• Exalts a hereditary aristocracy.

3. The Ethics of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle:

• Only the informed and mature mind can judge, according to diverse circumstance, when love should rule, and when power.
• Identifies virtue with intelligence and knowledge.
• Advocates a varying mixture of aristocracy and democracy in government.

Reconciliation by Spinoza: Making Happiness the goal of conduct.

(Original source: Will Durant’s “The Story of Philosophy” extracted and compiled…