Asceticism is the trifling of an enthusiast with his power, a puerile coquetting with his selfishness or his vanity, in the absence of any sufficiently great object to employ the first or overcome the last.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Nightingale criticizes asceticism as self-indulgent play when there is no great cause to serve. She suggests that self-denial without purpose is vanity rather than virtue.
- In plain terms
- Denying yourself is childish unless you are doing it for a worthy cause.
- What can you take from it?
- Sacrifice needs a worthy goal to be meaningful.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When does discipline become self-indulgence?
- What goals justify sacrifice?
Another view
It discounts the value of self-discipline even when goals are modest.
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