February 11, 2025

A man can look upon his life and accept it as good or evil; it is far, far harder for him to confess that it has been unimportant in the sum of things.

Murray Kempton (1917-1997), American journalist, Part of Our Time (1955), in The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.113

Do you live a life of quiet goodness? Or evil cleverly obscured? If you pursue (or plan to pursue) a political career, given your track record as a human being to date, how would you assess your potential for future importance in your chosen field?

In the sum of things, we are all unimportant (vide Santayana, February 12), so who cares? What we should care about is whether we have added to or subtracted from what is good in this world, and whether whatever we did that was good will be passed on to future generations. If that is too abstruse a thought, think of your grandchildren!