June 9, 2025

In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors.

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), British philosopher, Unpopular Essays (1950), in The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.180

Who, if any, constitute your social superiors? Your social inferiors? Which play the greater part in your self-evaluation? The former, with their condescension? Or the latter, as you are a cut or two above them?

How we feel about ourselves largely depends on the measurement standard we employ. If birth, the hereditary nobility were the best for most of human history. Money can’t buy you love, but in sufficient amounts it can buy you anything, even a trip to outer space. Rely on it, we usually choose the measure we know we can meet, and meet convincingly.