Bernard Mandeville > Quotes

“When Men fly from danger, it is natural for them to run farther than they need.”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Mischiefs That Ought Justly to Be Apprehended from a Whig-Government

“One of the greatest Reasons why so few People understand themselves, is, that most Writers are always teaching Men what they should be, and hardly ever trouble their heads with telling them what they really are.”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees: Or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits

“private vice can be publicly beneficial”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees or Private Vices, Public Benefits with an Essay on Charity & Charity Schools & a Search into the Nature of Society. Also a Vindication of the Book from the Aspersions Contained in a Presentment

“To shew, that these Qualifications, which we all pretend to be asham’d of, are the great support of a flourishing Society,”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees: Or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits

“First, to define the passion of shame, I think it may be called a sorrowful reflection on our own unworthiness, proceeding from an apprehension that others either do, or might, if they knew all, deservedly despise us.”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits: Enriched edition. Exploring Self-Interest and Societal Progress in the Enlightenment Era

“The Root of evil Avarice,
That damn ill-natur'd baneful vice,
Was slave to Prodigality,
That Noble Sin; whilst Luxury
Employ'd a Million of the Poor,
And odious Pride a Million more.
Envy it self, and Vanity
Were Ministers of Industry;
Their darling Folly, Fickleness
In Diet, Furniture, and Dress,
That strange ridic'lous Vice, was made
The very Wheel, that turn'd the Trade.”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees

“Pride and Vanity have built more Hospitals than all the Virtues together.”
― Bernard Mandeville

“Ask not only the Divines and Moralists of every Nation, but likewise all that are rich and powerful, about real Pleasure, and they'll tell you, with the Stoicks, that there can be no true Felicity in Things Mundane and Corruptible; but then look upon their Lives, and you will find they take delight in no other.”
― Bernard Mandeville

“Do we not owe the Growth of Wine To the dry shabby crooked Vine?”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees

“the humblest man alive must confess, that the reward of a virtuous action, which is the satisfaction that ensues upon it, consists in a certain pleasure he procures to himself by contemplating on his own worth: which pleasure, together with the occasion of it, are as certain signs of pride, as looking pale and trembling at any imminent danger, are the symptoms of fear.”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits: Enriched edition. Exploring Self-Interest and Societal Progress in the Enlightenment Era

“Weinig mensen kunnen het nalaten zichzelf hoog te achten met betrekking tot de kennis die zij zich eens hebben verworven, zelfs als zijn deze zijn kwijtgeraakt. En als zij niet erg bescheiden en discreet zijn, zullen de onverteerde flarden die zulke mensen zich gewoonlijk van het Latijn herinneren, hen bijna altijd op een of ander moment belachelijk maken voor degenen die er wel goed van op de hoogte zijn.”
― Bernard Mandeville, De wereld gaat aan deugd ten onder

“Passions may do good by chance, but there can be no merit but in the conquest of them.”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits: Enriched edition. Exploring Self-Interest and Societal Progress in the Enlightenment Era

“Then leave Complaints: Fools only strive
To make a Great an honest Hive.
T' enjoy the World's Conveniencies,
Be famed in War, Yet live in Ease
Without great Vices, is a vain
Eutopia seated in the Brain.
Fraud, Luxury, and Pride must live
Whilst we the Benefits recieve.
Hunger's a dreadful Plague, no doubt,
Yet who digests or strives without?
Do we not owe the Growth of Wine
To the dry shabby crooked Vine?
Which, whilst its Shutes neglected stood,
Choak'd other Plants, and ran to Wood;
But blest us with its Noble Fruit;
As soon as it was tied, and cut:
So Vice is Beneficial found,
When it's by Justice lopt, and bound;
Nay, where the People would be great,
As necessary to the State
As hunger is to make 'em eat.
Bare Vertue can't make Nations live
In Splendour; they, that would revive
A Golden Age, must be free,
For Acorns, as for Honesty.”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees

“for how civiliz'd soever Men may be, they never forget that Force goes beyond Reason”
― Bernard Mandeville

“How vain is Mortal Happiness!
Had they but known the Bounds of Bliss;
And, that Perfection here below
Is more than Gods can well bestow”
― Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees