Some things are better than others. Charity is better than meanness, love than hatred, self-forgetfulness than egotism, cheerfulness than grumbling, attention than chatter, humour than pomposity —
Hugh Walpole - Captain Nicholas (1934)
Trite perhaps but intentionally so. Walpole is drawing a contrast between trite but good and sophisticated but evil. Something we seem to have lost sight of in a futile pursuit of –
– of what?
That was Walpole’s point. Evil can be merely negative, the pursuit of nothing positive. An outcome of fashionably specious ideas and the easy pitfalls of nihilism. A moral failure to pursue what is good in favour of a wry sneer and a false dichotomy. Good often is trite and difficult to defend but nothing else will do. Some things really are better than others.
– of what?
That was Walpole’s point. Evil can be merely negative, the pursuit of nothing positive. An outcome of fashionably specious ideas and the easy pitfalls of nihilism. A moral failure to pursue what is good in favour of a wry sneer and a false dichotomy. Good often is trite and difficult to defend but nothing else will do. Some things really are better than others.
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