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How stupid and shortsighted the ruling class really is! Cupidity is stone blind. It has no vision. The greedy, profit-seeking exploiter cannot see beyond the end of his nose. He can see a chance for an 'opening'; he is cunning enough to know what graft is and where it is, and how it can be secured, but vision he has none - not the slightest. He knows nothing of the great throbbing world that spreads out in all directions. He has no capacity for literature; no appreciation of art; no soul for beauty. That is the penalty the parasites pay for the violation of the laws of life.

Eugene V. Debs#47

PowerEthicsCritiqueArtCultureGreed

About this quote

What does it mean?
Ruling classes are criticized for focusing only on profit and lacking appreciation for culture or beauty.
In plain terms
Greedy leaders care only about profit and ignore art and the wider world.
What can you take from it?
Obsession with profit blinds people to art and human life.

Where it applies

  • ethical leadership discussions
  • corporate culture critique
  • arts advocacy

Putting it to work

  • prioritize ethical leadership
  • value culture over profit

Questions to consider

  • What does profit-seeking blind us to?
  • How do leaders value culture?

Another view

It generalizes all elites as lacking culture which may not always be true.

More from Eugene V. Debs

  1. The Man of Galilee, the Carpenter, the workingman who became the revolutionary agitator of his day soon found himself to be an undesirable citizen in the eyes …

    Permalink to quote #46
  2. Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose towers may still be …

    Permalink to quote #48
  3. These are the gentry who are today wrapped up in the American flag, who shout their claim from the housetops that they are the only patriots, and who have thei…

    Permalink to quote #45

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