Theodore Dalrymple

Second Opinion | 18 December 2004

He is best who empathises most

issue 18 December 2004

Empathy these days is the greatest of the virtues, and he is best who empathises most. That is why pop singers and British politicians are the best people in the world: they can’t see the slightest suffering without empathising with it. Whether they behave better than anyone else is beside the point; it is what they feel, especially in public, that counts.

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