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In classical cultures, an ascended class had to justify itself before those below in the social structure. But the culture revolution of our time has eliminated this need for class - as well as self-justification.

— Philip Rieff The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After Freud (1966)

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Ambition

More quotes by Philip Rieff

Analytic therapy is thus a form of re-education; Freud specifically called it that.

The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After Freud (1966)

In the age of psychologizing, clarity about oneself supersedes devotion to an ideal as the model of right conduct.

The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After Freud (1966)

This total rejection of the religious question gives even Marxism a pious look.

The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After Freud (1966)

The answer to all questions of “what for?” is “more.”

The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After Freud (1966)

Reason cannot save us, nothing can; but reason can mitigate the cruelty of living.

Freud: The Mind of the Moralist (1959)

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Men accept servility in order to acquire wealth; as if they could acquire anything of their own when they cannot even assert that they belong to themselves.

Étienne de La Boétie Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (1548)

To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.

Confucius

The poor, by thinking unceasingly of money, reach the point of losing the spiritual advantages of non-possession, thereby sinking as low as the rich.

Emil Cioran The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him.

Jean de La Bruyère Les Caractères (1688)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Philip Rieff (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.