Bertrand Russell wrote that admiration is difficult, whereas envy is easy. Russell wrote that thought in his 1930 self-help book The Conquest of Happiness.*
Now, a lesson someone taught me decades ago.
Years ago, I set out to look for a property on which I could build a house not too far from the University. One day, a colleague accompanied me. In the pre-Internet age, we drove around to survey what might be available (Those were rather primitive times of newspaper real estate sections and “for sale” signs). As we drove past a junkyard, I noticed a new and impressive house the owner recently built on the hill above the wrecked and rusting cars.
I commented, “Why would someone build such a nice house overlooking a junkyard?”
My friend replied, “That junkyard built that house.”
Emulate; don’t envy: Grass that looks good on the other side of the fence represents constant hard work. If you must envy, then envy effort, not its result.
*Republished numerous times: in 2006 by Routledge and in 2013 by Liveright, for example. Bright guy, old Bert (actually, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rdEarl Russell of Kingston Russell, Viscount Amberley of Amberley and of Ardsalla, etc., etc., etc.; he had to be bright just to remember all the ancestral and personal titles) was mathematician, philosopher, epistemologist, and Nobel Laureate.
Now, a lesson someone taught me decades ago.
Years ago, I set out to look for a property on which I could build a house not too far from the University. One day, a colleague accompanied me. In the pre-Internet age, we drove around to survey what might be available (Those were rather primitive times of newspaper real estate sections and “for sale” signs). As we drove past a junkyard, I noticed a new and impressive house the owner recently built on the hill above the wrecked and rusting cars.
I commented, “Why would someone build such a nice house overlooking a junkyard?”
My friend replied, “That junkyard built that house.”
Emulate; don’t envy: Grass that looks good on the other side of the fence represents constant hard work. If you must envy, then envy effort, not its result.
*Republished numerous times: in 2006 by Routledge and in 2013 by Liveright, for example. Bright guy, old Bert (actually, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rdEarl Russell of Kingston Russell, Viscount Amberley of Amberley and of Ardsalla, etc., etc., etc.; he had to be bright just to remember all the ancestral and personal titles) was mathematician, philosopher, epistemologist, and Nobel Laureate.
RSS Feed