Tag: Ethics

Delayed gratification is a Janus-faced virtue, used both as a tactic by hedonists to maximise pleasure and a strategy by ascetics to minimise it…

Running away is sometimes exactly the right thing to do, and it can take courage to leave the familiar behind and go in search of something more uncertain, more unknown. Perhaps the taunt hurled at the ignoble knight Sir Robin – “He bravely ran away” – is not such an oxymoron after all.

Compassion may be more at home in the corporate world than is commonly expected. It’s true that businesses can be more concerned with looking good than doing good. But when you have to answer to stakeholders, there is at least some pressure to show not just that you take the welfare of others seriously, but that you are actually doing something constructive about it and not merely wasting resources on empty gestures.

It seems to be the people who waste the least time, cramming as much as possible into their lives, who most feel the shortness of life. Those who appreciate the value of each day are not inclined to waste too many. So if you do use your time well, what exactly is life too short for?