an awareness of one’s own folly, The Mechanics of Virtue, aphorism 275

275


A man who takes himself too seriously often becomes the butt of the joke, and inadvertently becomes the life of the party – and of course the man who does not take himself too seriously, who has a sense of humor, tends to add life to the party as well.  Likewise, an awareness of one’s own folly makes a healthier morality – that is, if one measures morality by the standard of applicability and not mere tenability.  And if not, then complacency stands confidently on the rug again, a convenient straight man to this moral comedy....

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