"Once in a century a man may be ruined or made insufferable by praise. But surely once in a minute something generous dies for want of it"
About this Quote
Praise is usually treated like sugar: dangerous in excess, but basically benign. Masefield flips that complacency. Yes, he concedes the familiar moralistic warning that flattery can deform a person - inflate the ego, corrode judgment, turn talent into entitlement. He even sharpens it with a sly asymmetry: a man can be "ruined" or, worse, "made insufferable" by too much acclaim. The real sting arrives after the pivot. The risk of overpraise is rare, almost folkloric ("once in a century"). The damage of underpraise is constant, happening at the tempo of ordinary life ("once in a minute").
The intent isn’t to romanticize validation; it’s to indict a culture of emotional austerity. "Something generous" is deliberately vague: a kind impulse, a fledgling courage, the willingness to try again, a vulnerable act that needs a small witness. Masefield implies that generosity is not an infinite well but a living thing with a survival threshold. Without recognition, it doesn’t just go unrewarded; it dies. That’s a harsher claim than "people like compliments". It suggests that moral behavior is partly ecological: it depends on small, public acts of noticing.
Context matters. Masefield lived through an era marked by rigid masculinity, class restraint, and wartime stoicism - settings where praise could feel unmanly, sentimental, even socially improper. His line reads as a corrective to that posture: if we’re so afraid of inflating egos, we quietly accept a daily attrition of kindness. The subtext is practical ethics: praise isn’t luxury; it’s maintenance.
The intent isn’t to romanticize validation; it’s to indict a culture of emotional austerity. "Something generous" is deliberately vague: a kind impulse, a fledgling courage, the willingness to try again, a vulnerable act that needs a small witness. Masefield implies that generosity is not an infinite well but a living thing with a survival threshold. Without recognition, it doesn’t just go unrewarded; it dies. That’s a harsher claim than "people like compliments". It suggests that moral behavior is partly ecological: it depends on small, public acts of noticing.
Context matters. Masefield lived through an era marked by rigid masculinity, class restraint, and wartime stoicism - settings where praise could feel unmanly, sentimental, even socially improper. His line reads as a corrective to that posture: if we’re so afraid of inflating egos, we quietly accept a daily attrition of kindness. The subtext is practical ethics: praise isn’t luxury; it’s maintenance.
Quote Details
| Topic | Gratitude |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
More Quotes by John
Add to List
