The Experience of Clarity

41 When we make a display of our disdain, we often show more rivalry than contempt. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

198 One needs a magnetic north, something to sail by ... and how many ships remain lost at sea because they know it is not a “true” north? A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

42 Above and Below the Level of Shame:  When one “has no shame” one has permitted a crude, unrestrained urge within a refined, restrained convention – without realizing what one has done.  One must now be taught the shame of having no shame. When one is more refined and restrained ... stronger than convention allows, one now becomes aware of the shame of “arrogant” behavior.  Again, one is taught the shame of having no shame ... A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

199 My guess: That increase in strength is always the object and that any decrease is always the obstacle. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

43 An unrefined virtue is a contradiction, and a refined vice is often a virtue again. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

200 The more I practice the art of high fate, the more I see that there is one thing that one must have ... strength in every sense of the word and in all events.  Whatever one wants to do, whatever one has to do — from duty, from desire, from reckless will — one must acquire every piece of strength along the way. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

44 Gandhi and Hitler:   These are two points upon a spectrum measuring the display of dominance.  This does not suggest that one is less and the other is more driven to dominate – we speak here of the degree of hypocrisy.  One is more capable of hypocrisy and the other less, Hitler being the less capable and therefore the more reprehensible.   A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

201 The archer aims above and to the left but strikes the center ... so do I have a single eye on strength but strike a high fate. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

45 Gandhi is superior to Churchill by the same principle which finds Churchill superior to Hitler – unless of course we’re British imperialists, in which case Churchill is superior to Gandhi by a new sort of principle which relieves us from having to finish the comparison. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

202 If I use increasing strength as my standard, all habits fall within two categories: descending or ascending.  There is no “in between” ... no standing; those who do not climb weaken. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

46 Virtue , a) That which converts itself into a virtue by one’s having converted another to it.  This works by that same principle by which one who has just eaten raw garlic does not have bad breath if the other is also served raw garlic. b) The consequence of living without public masks, due to inadequate intellect and poor manners. c) What one feels when observing a rival’s obvious shortcoming. d) A single point of virtue so intoxicated with its own sharp perfection that the bearer can no longer discard anything attached to it – which is to say, that he can no longer tell good from bad for the pride that he takes in this single point of excellence.  He often appears as a knight in shining armor shoveling out a horse’s stall, proud of his mastery of the art of the shovel. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

203 Strength is value.  That which I carry everywhere, especially into new circumstances, and which also moves things is of highest value.  And with the strongest, things move even after death. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

47 When we forbid ourselves a vice for the pleasure it gives us, we can still take vicarious pleasure in condemning it in another.  We often begin the social crusade because righteousness wants to get closer to sin. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

204 In the end, it is my strength ... not my words, not my badges, not my reputation ... but my strength that holds my head up. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism