November 18, 2025

Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call promising.

Cyril Connolly (1903–1975), British writer and critic, Enemies of Promise (1938), in The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.55

Anyone ever call you promising? If yes, have things turned out as expected? If not, did you nevertheless fool them all? Can you think of any politician you once thought promising, who turned out to be a dud?

Forget the gods. If Freud was right, the best mother is not the one who short-changes you with praise for promise shown from time to time, but the one who certifies you as the best of all possible children, the trumpetress of your promise.