Bernard Mandeville Quotes on Knowledge
Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733), the Dutch-English physician whose Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits (1714, expanded 1723 and 1729) supplied the early eighteenth century with one of its most controversial works of moral and political philosophy, defended a thoroughgoing psychological naturalism according to which the moral categories under which civilized society operates are the constructions of self-interested politicians and moralists who have flattered human beings into accepting them. Genuine knowledge of human nature on this view requires the patient stripping away of the self-flattering moralistic vocabulary in order to expose the actual passional economy from which the social order paradoxically depends.
Quotes
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“Vast Numbers throng'd the fruitful Hive; Yet those vast Numbers made 'em thrive; Millions endeavouring to supply Each other's Lust and Vanity.”
The Grumbling Hive", line 31, p. 3 -
“The Grumbling Hive", line 31, p. 3”
Vast Numbers throng'd the fruitful Hive; Yet those vast Numbers made 'em thrive; Millions endeavouring to supply Each other's Lust and Vanity. -
“They put off hearings wilfully, To finger the refreshing fee.”
The Grumbling Hive", line 65, p. 4 -
“The Grumbling Hive", line 65, p. 4”
They put off hearings wilfully, To finger the refreshing fee. -
“The Grumbling Hive", line 155, p. 9”
Thus every Part was full of Vice, Yet the whole Mass a Paradise; Flatter'd in Peace, and fear'd in Wars, They were th' Esteem of Foreigners, And lavish of their Wealth and Lives, The Balance of all other Hives. -
“The Grumbling Hive", line 167, p. 9”
The worst of all the Multitude Did something for the Common Good. -
“Knowledge both enlarges and multiplies our Desires, and the fewer things a Man wishes for, the more easily his Necessities may be supply'd.”
The Fable of the Bees(1714) | "An Essay on Charity, and Charity-Schools", p. 328 -
“This laudable quality is commonly known by the name of Manners and Good-breeding, and consists in a Fashionable Habit, acquir'd by Precept and Example, of flattering the Pride and Selfishness of others, and concealing our own with Judgment and Dexterity.”
The Fable of the Bees(1714) | Remark C, p. 69 -
“No Habit or Quality is more easily acquir'd than Hypocrisy, nor any thing sooner learn'd than to deny the Sentiments of our Hearts and the Principle we act from: But the Seeds of every Passion are innate to us, and no body comes into the World without them.”
The Fable of the Bees(1714) | "An Essay on Charity, and Charity-Schools", p. 319