"One of the most charming books written in early modern Europe was In Praise of Folly (1509), by the Dutch scholar and philosopher Erasmus."
" Bruegel and Erasmus’s work proposes that the way to greater confidence is not to reassure ourselves of our own dignity; it’s to come to peace with our inevitable ridiculousness."
"We grow timid when we allow ourselves to be overexposed to the respectable sides of others."
"We would grow free to try things by accepting that failure was the norm."
"We start out in life with a very strong impression that competent and admirable people are not like us at all."
"...institutions as they actually were: occasionally well-meaning, but frequently lazy, casual, corrupt or indifferent."
"...but in private, over the ensuing months, we simply cannot dismiss their judgements, because we have accorded them a status logically prior to our own in our deep minds."
"Success isn’t simply a pleasant prize to stumble upon when we enjoy a subject or a task interests us; it is a psychological necessity, something we must secure in order to feel we have the right to be alive."
"We should keep in mind a confident distinction between the hater and the critic, aim to correct our genuine flaws, and otherwise forgive the injured, roaring winds that seek to punish us for pressures that have nothing to do with us."
"We should not worry so much about the latter, nor complain quite so bitterly about the former. We should accept from the start, with good grace and dark premonition, the sheer randomness and amorality of fate."
"We should come to terms with, and help others to see, just how hard and unnerving it can sometimes be to get
close to the things we truly want."
"Our lack of confidence in confidence may allow degraded versions of self-assertion to thrive."
"It might be brutishness, not confidence, that we hate."
"We should take care not to dress up our base deficiencies as godly virtues."
"Unfortunately it isn’t enough to be kind, interesting, intelligent and wise inside: we need to develop the skill that allows us to make our talents active in the world at large."
"Confidence is what translates theory into practice. It should never be thought of as the enemy of good things; it is their crucial and legitimate catalyst."
titsay
gracieabrams
kianamaiart
snowghoul
pixelskylines
