Saturday, 15 April 2023
Always for the purest of motives
That she was “advanced” you could also postulate, but “advanced” in a strange way that would make her all the more dangerous, if only to small circles;. You would know, if you happened to know the type, that she would have “principles” that at odd moments would wreck enterprises, homes, or the lives of friends — always for the purest of motives.
Ford Madox Ford - The Marsden Case (1923)
What strange and occasionally horrible things principles are. Supposedly they reflect some kind of personal stake in a virtuous life, yet too often they are no more than window dressing for vanity, spite, incompetence and malice.
It is not a bad rule to be suspicious of anyone who makes a point of claiming to act on the basis of principles. Especially progressive principles, or “advanced” as Ford called them a century ago.
Things don’t change much in this respect. People with advanced principles are still a menace. One of their number is even due to be crowned next month. At the moment they are intent on wrecking my life and yours — always for the purest of motives.
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3 comments:
"that she would have “principles” that at odd moments would wreck enterprises, homes, or the lives of friends — always for the purest of motives."
Utterly brilliant. :)
If people stuck to simple and obvious principles, like not killing, stealing, or lying unnecessarily, we would probably be OK. But we have educated people, and the educated need something to try their intelligence out on. So we have climate change experts, amateur economists, armchair generals, social strategists, and futurologists - all very principled people.
James - and disconcerting that we'll never be rid of such people.
Sam - I'm sure you are right. It's as if being principled in spirit is a kind of absolution from being genuinely principled. Maybe that has always been the case.
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