There Is Something Deeply Attractive, At Least

How Many People Does Each Of Us Know Who Claim To Seek Happiness But Freely Choose Paths Inevitably Leading To Misery?

It Is Only By Having Desire Thwarted, And Thereby Learning To Control It — In Other Words, By Becoming Civilized — That Men Become Fully Human.

The Loss Of The Religious Understanding Of The Human Condition—that Man Is A Fallen Creature For Whom Virtue Is Necessary But Never Fully Attainable—is A Loss, Not A Gain, In True Sophistication. The Secular Substitute—the Belief In The Perfection Of Life On Earth By The Endless Extension Of A Choice Of Pleasures—is Not Merely Callow By Comparison But Much Less Realistic In Its Understanding Of Human Nature.

There Is Nothing That An Intellectual Less Likes To Change Than His Mind, Or A Politician His Policy.

Obesity Is The Result Of A Loss Of Self-control. Indeed, Loss Of Self-control Might Be Said To Be The Defining Social (or Anti-social) Characteristic Of Our Age: Public Drunkenness, Excessive Gambling, Promiscuity And Common-or-garden Rudeness Are All Examples Of Our Collective Loss Of Self-control.