Stanislaw Jerzy Lec Quotes
Whenever man begins to doubt himself, he does something so stupid that he is reassured.
Lec, Stanislaw Jerzy. Unkempt Thoughts. Translated by Jacek Galazka, St. Martin's Press, 1962.
Rowe was a high official in the Presidential Campaign of Adlai Stevenson.
There are two general kinds of human action against their own interest. In the first find, citizens place the nation or the good of the community above their own personal advantage. Every soldier who voluntarily fights is engaging in this type of altruistic behavior. The other is where politicians, democratically elected or imposed offend people in some way. In a democracy people will vote against candidates whose policies are better for the individual, but he is offended by their corruption, immorality, racism, sexism or the like. Richard Nixon was turned on by the vast majority of Americans despite the fact that he presided over national affluence, and had by almost any standard made great breakthroughs in foreign policy. Another example is most of the Arab nations whose citizens support leaders who can and will not improve their standard of living but makes them feel good because they maintain Islamic dignity be opposing the West, even when the opposition itself makes development and growth much more difficult.
Stanisław Jerzy Lec, born Baron Stanisław Jerzy de Tusch-Letz, was a Polish aphorist and poet. Often mentioned among the greatest writers of post-war Poland, he was one of the most influential aphorists of the 20th century, known for lyrical poetry and skeptical philosophical-moral aphorisms, often with a political subtext.
