How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
158/400
- Publication/creation
- London : George Routledge, 1932.
- Physical description
- xiv, 374 pages ; 22 cm
- Contributors
- Wolfe, W. Béran 1900-1935.
- Notes
-
This edition was reprinted in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946 and 1948.
Copy 1 Note: 1937 reprint. X158203
- Attribution and usage
-
Wellcome Collection
Conditions of use: it is possible this item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
The image contains the following text:
something, so the cure of vanity and pride, two
egregiously disruptive character traits, consists not in
putting your possessions aside and courting Our Lady
Poverty, but in diverting all your life’s efforts to
their useful elaboration in the larger cooperation of
human life.
If it is childish to be vain about your beauty, it is as
futile to be proud of your wealth or intellectual capacity.
Intellectual capabilities become interesting only if you
can make them pay dividends in social usefulness.
If you are proud because you are a better surgeon than
your neighbour ; if you are vain because you have
invented a new electric light which brings illumination to
the poorest home ; if you feel a personal glow of self¬
esteem because the bridge you designed brings thousands
of people nearer to their work or to their homes, then the
world will pardon your vanity as reasonably justified. All
other forms of vanity anger your neighbours and focus
their hostility on your head. In the last analysis, vanity is
a waste of time. In a cooperative venture of the titanic
proportions of our civilization, vanity, boastfulness,
pride, self-centredness are poor tools for acquiring the
peace and security necessary to the happiness of each
individual. They bring tension and conflict in their
wake and preclude the larger awarenesses and the more
meaningful experiences of the good life.
Ambition : Its Use and Misuse
A word about ambition which rates as a virtue in the
copybooks, but on investigation, betrays itself as a vice
in nearly every instance. You have no doubt heard some
business acquaintance say : “ When I have made my
pile I will devote all my time to charity.” This is one
of the most insidious forms of personal ambition. The
desire to get ahead at all costs is nothing but a form of
vanity. Getting ahead usually involves putting someone
else out of the running. The ambitious man has very