"The world would be a happier place than it is if acquisitiveness were always stronger than rivalry. But in fact, a great many men will cheerfully face impoverishment if they can thereby secure complete ruin for their rivals. Hence the present level of taxation. Vanity is a motive of immense potency. Anyone who has much to do with children knows how they are constantly performing some antic, and saying "Look at me." "Look at me" is one of the most fundamental desires of the human heart. It can take innumerable forms, from buffoonery to the pursuit of posthumous fame."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Bertrand Russell
1872
britischer Mathematiker, Philosoph und Schriftsteller
562 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Bertrand Russell →
Related Quotes
"Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to e…"
"The next stage in the development of a desirable form of sensitiveness is sympathy. There is a purely physical sympat…"
"He was not an ascetic, but he despised luxury and the pursuit of artificial pleasures of the senses."
"The supposed wisdom of proverbs is mainly imaginary. As a rule, proverbs go in pairs which say opposite things. The o…"
"The beliefs appropriate to the impulse of aggression may be seen in Bernhardi, or in the early Mohammedan conquerors,…"
"A book is a friend."
"I do not think it possible to get anywhere if we start from scepticism. We must start from a broad acceptance of what…"
"As we all know, Mr. Russell produces a different system of philosophy every few years..."
"Wherever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure: a larger heart, and a greater s…"
"Some modern philosophers have gone so far as to say that words should never be confronted with facts but should live …"