The Workings of Envy

Brillat-Savarin is brilliant in this tortured yet elegant following of how constant complainers think.


I shall remark, in this connection, that those men who are never satisfied with anything are almost always ignorant people who criticize sharply in the hope that their daring will make them seem to know many things which in reality they have not had the capacity to learn.


Very satisfying sentence. The M.F.K. Fisher rendering twists appropriately. Note how the ear almost hears "opportunity to learn" and so is willing to be indulgent and forgiving but the ear clearly reads "capacity" and so the condemnation is all the greater.

And so for day 229
31.07.2007