"Never take any official post. If one does that, one becomes just a plain John Anyman, a tiny little cog in the machine of the body politic. The individual ceases to be himself the manager of the operation, and then theories can be of little help. One acquires a title, and implicit in that are all the consequences of sin and evil. The law under which one slaves is equally boring no matter whether advancement is swift or slow. A title can never be disposed of, it would take a criminal act for that, which would incur a public whipping, and even then one cannot be sure of not being pardoned by royal decree and acquiring the title again."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Hong, 1987. p. 298
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Either%2FOr
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Either/Or
73 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Either/Or →
Related Quotes
"Dear Reader: I wonder if you may not sometimes have felt inclined to doubt a little the correctness of the familiar p…"
"These papers have afforded me an insight into the lives of two men, which has confirmed my hunch that the external is…"
"A’s papers contain a number of attempts to formulate an aesthetic philosophy of life. A single, coherent, aesthetic v…"
"What is a poet? An unhappy man who conceals profound anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so fashioned that when …"
"People flock about the poet and say to him: do sing again; Which means, would that new sufferings tormented your soul…"
"My view of life is utterly meaningless. I suppose an evil spirit has set a pair of spectacles upon my nose of which o…"
"Life has become a bitter drink to me, and yet I must take it like medicine, slowly, drop by drop."
"No one ever comes back from the dead, no one ever enters the world without weeping; no one is asked when he wishes to…"
"Alas, the doors of fortune do not open inward, so that by storming them one can force them open; but they open outwar…"
"To forget — this is the desire of all people, and when they encounter something unpleasant, they always say: If only …"