Servility

thumb|Men accept servility in order to acquire wealth; as if they could acquire anything of their own when they cannot even assert that they belong to themselves. ~ Étienne de La Boétie Servility is submissiveness or slavishness. Quotes Men are like handsome race horses who first bite the bit and later like it, and rearing under the saddle a while soon learn to enjoy displaying their harness and prance proudly beneath their trappings. Étienne de la Boétie, Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, Part 2 Men accept servility in order to acquire wealth; as if they could acquire anything of their own when they cannot even assert that they belong to themselves. Étienne de La Boétie, Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, Part 3 The same pride which makes a man treat haughtily his inferiors, makes him cringe servilely to those above him. Jean de La Bruyère, Characters, H. Van Laun, trans. (London: 1885) “Of The Gifts of Fortune,” #57 It is rare that individuals value their freedom more than the comfort that comes with servility. John Gray, The Unsaved, p. 123 Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar. ... We have no king but Caesar.” Gospel of John 19:12-15 NIV If “humility” means nothing more than the capacity to learn from criticism, then it has an undoubted value; but if “humility” means a willingness to submit to authority—to abandon or to modify what one is doing merely because it does not accord with the teachings of the Bible or the thoughts of Chairman Mao—then it is death to the spirit: the proper name for it, indeed, is “servility.” John Passmore, The Perfectibility of Man (1971), p. 289 See also Cowardice Flattery Obedience Servitude Sycophancy External links