"Everybody continually tries to get away with as much as he can; and society is a marvelous machine which allows decent people to be cruel without realizing it."

Émile Chartier Philosophy See all quotes by Émile Chartier →

React to this quote

More by Émile Chartier

See all

“Thought is saying no, and it is to itself that thought says no.”

“Politeness is for people toward whom we feel indifferent, and moods, both good and bad, are for those we love.”

“Any kind of barbarism, once established, will last.”

“If religion is only human, and its form is man’s form, it follows that everything in religion is true.”

“Happiness is a reward that comes to those that have not looked for it.”

“Idleness is the mother of all vices, but also of all virtues.”

Resonant Thoughts

"The worst side effect of wealth is the social associations it forces on its victims, as people with big houses end up socializing with other people with big houses."

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Mathematics1960

#Human Nature

"Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People"

— Silvio Berlusconi

Politics1936–2023

#Human Nature

"It had much more to do with my wanting to be with hippy girls and have lots of hashish than it did with my sympathy for the plight of the North Vietnamese people under US imperialism. Much more, much …"

— William Gibson

Literature1948–2008

#Human Nature

"Categorizing is necessary for humans, but it becomes pathological when the category is seen as definitive, preventing people from considering the fuzziness of boundaries, let alone revising their cate…"

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Mathematics1960

#Human Nature