#benevolence

It comes as no surprise to find [Norman] Mailer embracing [in the book On God] a form of Manicheanism, pitting the forces of light and darkness against each other in a permanent stand-off, with humanity as the battlefield. (When asked if Jesus is part of this battle, he responds rather loftily that he thinks it is a distinct possibility.) But it is at points like this that he talks as if all the late-night undergraduate talk sessions on the question of theism had become rolled into one. 'How can we not face up to the fact that if God is All-Powerful, He cannot be All-Good. Or She cannot be All-Good.' Mailer says that questions such as this have bedevilled 'theologians', whereas it would be more accurate to say that such questions, posed by philosophers, have attempted to put theologians out of business. A long exchange on the probability of reincarnation (known to Mailer sometimes as “karmic reassignment”) manages to fall slightly below the level of those undergraduate talk sessions. The Manichean stand-off leads Mailer, in closing, to speculate on what God might desire politically and to say: 'In different times, the heavens may have been partial to monarchy, to communism, and certainly the Lord was interested in democracy, in capitalism. (As was the Devil!)' I think it was at this point that I decided I would rather remember Mailer as the author of Harlot's Ghost and The Armies of the Night. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#capitalism #communism #democracy #devil #god

For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#benevolence #confidence #disposition #justice #mere

We never think lightly of those who walk with us on our uphill days. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#charity #friends #friendship #giving #kindness

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me? ↗

— Brian Tracy

#greed #life #wisdom #life

When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder. ↗

— Lao Tzu

#beginning #benevolence #conduct #disorder #expedience

Benevolence alone will not make a teacher, nor will learning alone do it. The gift of teaching is a peculiar talent, and implies a need and a craving in the teacher himself. ↗

— John Jay Chapman

#benevolence #craving #gift #himself #implies

Government is either organized benevolence or organized madness; its peculiar magnitude permits no shading. ↗

— John Updike

#either #government #madness #magnitude #organized

Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence, the other from pride or fear. ↗

— Horace Mann

#death #different #different thing #during #fear

Alas few socialists are either benevolent enough to work hard at these occupations out of benevolence or self-interested enough to work hard at them for money. ↗

— John McCarthy

#benevolence #benevolent #either #enough #few

To remove ignorance is an important branch of benevolence. ↗

— Ann Plato

#branch #ignorance #important #remove