“ Respect is so far from being a feeling of pleasure that we only reluctantly give way to it as regards a man. ”
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason (1788). copy citation
| Author | Immanuel Kant |
|---|---|
| Source | Critique of Practical Reason |
| Topic | pleasure respect |
| Date | 1788 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5683/pg5683-images.html |
Context
“For since in man all good is defective, the law made visible by an example still humbles my pride, my standard being furnished by a man whose imperfections, whatever they may be, are not known to me as my own are, and who therefore appears to me in a more favourable light. Respect is a tribute which we cannot refuse to merit, whether we will or not; we may indeed outwardly withhold it, but we cannot help feeling it inwardly.
Respect is so far from being a feeling of pleasure that we only reluctantly give way to it as regards a man. We try to find out something that may lighten the burden of it, some fault to compensate us for the humiliation which such an example causes. Even the dead are not always secure from this criticism, especially if their example appears inimitable.”
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