The Inner Ring (1944) [pdf]

johnrepici.com

28 pointsjger152 comments

> Of all the passions the passion for the Inner Ring is most skilful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things... As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want. You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left. Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain.

If you need an example of the truth of this statement, contemplate the career of Richard Nixon, a man of undoubted gifts whose inability to shake the feeling of being denied access to the Inner Ring — even while serving as President of the United States! — ended up destroying him.

Threads from 2016: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13144201

and 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8930434

Reply on news.ycombinator.com