A Wise, Wise Man

[D. Spencer Hines]

"If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if
without it?"

-- Benjamin Franklin (to Thomas Paine, Date Unknown)

Reference: Original Intent, Barton (297); original The Works of
Benjamin Franklin, Sparks, ed., vol. 10 (281-282)

[James Hogg]

"Just do as you please, young man. Acting morally will get you
nowhere. Feigning morality, on the other hand, will con enough people
to ensure your success. Power and achievement in this world come to
him who is the biggest asshole. Pass that message along to your
descendants. But beware: do not act like such an obvious jackass that
_everyone_ sees through you."

--- Thomas Jefferson to Walton Henry Hines, 1 April 1825
(Source: Complete Apocryphical Works of Thomas "Two-Sheds" Jefferson,
pp. 435-512)

[am...@hotmail.com]

On Mar 24, 7:32 am, James Hogg <Jas.Hogg...@SPAM.gmail.com> wrote:
> "Just do as you please, young man. Acting morally will get you
> nowhere. Feigning morality, on the other hand, will con enough people
> to ensure your success. Power and achievement in this world come to
> him who is the biggest asshole. Pass that message along to your
> descendants. But beware: do not act like such an obvious jackass that
> _everyone_ sees through you."
>

Funny, but this is very close to the recommendations given by Count
Rastopchin (person quite different from Jefferson in his background
and career) to a young man who was just starting his career in the
Russian Empire of early 1820's.

Perhaps the rules of success have little to do with a social
system. :-)

[deem...@aol.com]

I always liked "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle
them with bullsh*t".

[James Hogg]

Sounds like someone that Hines should really be quoting. More
appropriate for him than the high standards of morality and the
Christian sentiments expressed by the Founding Fathers.

I mean, it's hard to imagine Ben Franklin as a drunken troll sitting
at his computer insulting people left, left and centre, or Thomas
Jefferson publicly spreading his sick sexual fantasies about how a
certain Canadian lady spends her Saturday night, or Samuel Adams
calling Erilar an "ignorant, tyro, fat troglodyte, pseudo-grammarian"
for vainly trying to teach him correct English, or George Washington
downloading pictures of interracial sex in order to have a quick one
off the carpus.

How Hines can read and quote all this stuff from the Founding Fathers
without actually understanding a single word of it, and without the
slightest sense of irony, is rather amazing - and amusing.

James

[Paul J Gans]

I have that as "If you can't baffle them with brilliance, bury them
in bullsh*t." But the meaning is the same. ;-)

--
--- Paul J. Gans

[am...@hotmail.com]

On Mar 24, 12:10 pm, James Hogg <Jas.Hogg...@SPAM.gmail.com> wrote:

Well, I can't tell for sure if Rastopchin would get openly engaged in
any of these activities (actually, I can quite easily imagine Ben
Frankling writing nasty things about other people because he was
writing political pamphlets and, IIRC, while in France, rather
'enjoyed life') and I suspect that in the matter of manners he was
more restricted than most of the Founding Fathers: after all, he
belonged to a high aristocracy and at least part of his career had
been made at the court of Paul I who officially forbade usage of the
swear words in printed documents (which was a novel idea for Russia).
So, the nasty things were probably done with a little bit more of a
social grace than one could reasonably expect from a colonial
gentry. :-)

I was commenting strictly on cynical part of his statements: on young
man's comment that one has to have a talent to reach position as high
as Rostopchin did, the Count answered that all that talk about a
talent is pure nonsense and that his career had been made by cheating
and faking loyalty (and he gave couple of the really impressive
examples to illustrate the point).

[am...@hotmail.com]

Well, this is more or less an universal rule.... :-)