Natural selection surely favors a disposition to attribute success to factors under one’s control.
Being
Identity, that spectator of what he calls himself,
That net and aggregate of energies in transient combination.
—Cunningham
Everyone needs a reason to get up in the morning, and a drug habit is a compelling reason.
I bring my readers the glad tidings that there’s a lot you can’t fix and shouldn’t worry about, and it doesn’t seem to make them happy.
I know many people with a positive mania for facing uncomfortable truths; it seems not to discomfort them in the least.
It is simple to cheat an honest man; and one of the great themes of modern history is honest men getting cheated.
Your first reaction shows what you are. Your subsequent revisions show how much you dislike what you are.
Loyalty is two-thirds sloth and one-third poor alternatives.
Both sides are always guilty, and never equally guilty.
Feelings can be every bit as wrong as thoughts.
We search for truths, and find equilibria.