I was walking down Fifth Avenue today and I found a wallet, and I was gonna keep it, rather than return it, but I thought: 'Well, if I lost a hundred and fifty dollars, how would I feel?' And I realized I would want to be taught a lesson.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A man finds a wallet and considers keeping it, but stops because he imagines the lesson he would learn if he lost money.
- In plain terms
- He decided to return a found wallet by thinking about how he would feel if he lost money.
- What can you take from it?
- Empathy for your future self guides ethical choices.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do we justify moral choices?
- Is empathy enough to stop greed?
Another view
The reasoning assumes everyone learns from financial loss.
More from Emo Philips
I caught my wife in bed with another man. I was crushed. I said: 'Get off me, you two!'
Permalink to quote #3 New York's such a wonderful city. Although I was at the library today. The guy was very rude. I said, 'I'd like a card.' He says, 'You have to prove you're a c…
Permalink to quote #5 How many people here have telekinetic powers? Raise my hand.
Permalink to quote #2
Related quotes
You'd think she'd learn something from that. But she still does the same thing. Making decisions that deform other people's lives, without consulting them, wit…
Orson Scott CardOrson Scott Card quote #222 Business - the world's work - is the sale of lies: Not goods, but trade-marks; and still more and more In every branch becomes the sale of money.
John DavidsonJohn Davidson quote #1 Your Dollar is your only Word, The wrath of it your only fear. You build it altars tall enough To make you see, but your are blind; You cannot leave it long en…
Edwin Arlington RobinsonEdwin Arlington Robinson quote #1