Smith, that is.
Are you in adversity? Do not mourn in the darkness of solitude, do not regulate your sorrow according to the indulgent sympathy of your intimate friends; return, as soon as possible, to the day-light of the world and of society. Live with strangers, with those who know nothing, or care nothing about your misfortune; do not even shun the company of enemies; but give yourself the pleasure of mortifying their malignant joy, by making them feel how little you are affected by your calamity, and how much you are above it.
I don’t want to give the impression that The Theory of Moral Sentiments reads anything like an advice column, but every once in a while I feel like Smith could have written a damn good one.
I am now through Part III, so halfway there or so. Almost every paragraph is quotable. I find myself not picking it up so readily, thinking it heavy, but once I get a few pages in it’s very satisfying.
Recent Comments