A Common Fault—Justifying Oneself

Who among us relishes being told his or her faults? Self-justification is generally our spontaneous reaction. Yet Pascal advises otherwise: “When people detect in us what are actually imperfections and faults, it is clear that they do us no wrong, since it is not they who caused them; and it is clear, too, that they do us a service, inasmuch as they help us to free ourselves from an evil, namely, the ignorance of these defects. We should not be angry because they know them and despise us; for it is right that they should know us for what we are, and that they should despise us if we are despicable.”
Pascal. p. 179

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Covetousness by Lillian Harvey and Edwin Robert Tait

Covetousness has been termed “The sin very few ever confess.” In fact, that is the subtitle of the book Covetousness, written by Lillian Harvey and published by Harvey Christian Publishers. A few quotes from this book will give you an idea of its main thrust and purpose.
“The sin of the whole world is essentially the sin of Judas—men do not disbelieve their Christ; but they will sell Him.”
—Ruskin
“If money be not thy servant it will become thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth as it may be said to possess him.”—Charcon.
“It is not the fact that a man has riches which keeps him from the kingdom of Heaven, but the fact that the riches have him.”
—David Caird

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