I may mention one or two characteristic traits as having no virtue whatever, because they are mine by birth, not by acquisition. I have always been singularly free of envy, jealousy, covetousness; I but vaguely understand them. Having no ambition, I have always preferred the success of others to my own, and had more pleasure in it. I never had the least desire for place or prominence, least of all for power; and this was fortunate for me because the true individualist must regard power over others as preeminently something to be loathed and shunned.


"Autobiographical Sketch" (1939); published in The State of the Union : Essays in Social Criticism (1991), edited by Charles H. Hamilton, p. 26

Archive.is Nock: Biographical Material

Albert Jay Nock Quotes

I may mention one or two characteristic traits as having no virtue whatever, because they are mine by birth, not by acquisition. I have always been...

I may mention one or two characteristic traits as having no virtue whatever, because they are mine by birth, not by acquisition. I have always been...

I may mention one or two characteristic traits as having no virtue whatever, because they are mine by birth, not by acquisition. I have always been...

I may mention one or two characteristic traits as having no virtue whatever, because they are mine by birth, not by acquisition. I have always been...