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Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it.
— François de la Rochefoucauld · Maxim 22
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Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Reason finds it easy to console us about troubles already gone or not yet arrived. Yet when hardship is happening now, it overpowers philosophy itself. The maxim wryly admits that wisdom works best at a distance and often fails against pain we are actually feeling.
Context reviewed