"No credit? No problem!" sounds like a bumper-sticker advertisment for a loan shark. But it's also a fine mantra for somebody who hopes to do good in general. Don't expect to get recognition for your contributions. Noble acts are their own reward. John Stuart Mill (in his Autobiography, Chapter 3) wrote on a closely-related note:

I learnt how to obtain the best I could when I could not obtain everything; instead of being indignant or dispirited because I could not have entirely my own way, to be pleased and encouraged when I could have the smallest part of it; and when even that could not be, to bear with complete equanimity the being overruled altogether. I have found, through life, these acquisitions to be of the greatest possible importance for personal happiness, and they are also a very necessary condition for any one, either as theorist or as practical man, to effect the greatest amount of good compatible with his opportunities.

(See NoGlory, ^zhurnal 11 Jan 2000)

Friday, March 23, 2001 at 19:24:31 (EST) = 2001-03-23

TopicLiterature - TopicLife - TopicPhilosophy

(correlates: FeedingFrenzy, TouchTheFlagpole, KnowingChoosingDoing, ...)