We in England underrate the danger of this kind of thing, because our traditions and our past security have given us a sentimental belief that it all comes right in the end and the thing you most fear never really happens. Nourished for hundreds of years on a literature in which Right invariably triumphs in the last chapter, we believe half-instinctively that evil always defeats itself in the long run. Pacifism, for instance, is founded largely on this belief. Don't resist evil, and it will somehow destroy itself. But why should it? What evidence is there that it does? And what instance is there of a modern industrialized state collapsing unless conquered from the outside by military force?
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- English culture fostered a dangerous belief that good always wins, leading to complacency about threats.
- In plain terms
- People in England think things will work out so they ignore real dangers.
- What can you take from it?
- Optimism without evidence can be dangerous.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What false sense of security do you hold?
- When does optimism become denial?
Another view
Sometimes things do work out without direct resistance.
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