the strength of self-control, The Mechanics of Virtue, aphorism 290

290

One might turn the other cheek to dodge an undignified battle.  Whether intended or not, such an avoidance often has a devastating effect on the assailant: to the very degree that one tolerates the assault without retaliation one also demonstrates the degree to which the other lacks sufficient rank to merit one's response.  If one remains indifferent, the stronger his assault the greater his humiliation.  The other fails to produce the desired response.  


Where one can demonstrate the strength of self-control, one also demonstrates a standard whereby the inability to restrain aggression belongs to a lower rank.

Popular posts from this blog

A valuable book, A Human Strategy, aphorism 387

387 A valuable book may be torn to pieces without diminishing the human spirit, just so long as the words have already been read and understood.  To feel the loss of the book — at its material destruction, even though one had already digested its contents fully and had aligned oneself toward its overall direction — is evidence that one values the non-human being over human becoming , the static thing over the dynamic process .  In response to the fear of our unknowable future we would rather freeze ourselves into a single stage of growth at the expense of the entire metamorphosis. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism
Read more
The Ascetic Impulse: We think we deliberately hurt ourselves when it is simply that we do know which version of ourselves will satisfy our needs more fully. We try on a personality as if trying on new clothes. Bizarrely, the self we beat up has heretofore been a complete stranger.
Read more