A Man in Full

by Tom Wolfe

There were the true Male Animals, who went into investment banking, hedge funds, arbitrage, real estate development, and other forms of empire building. They were the gamblers, plungers, traders, risk takers; in short, the Charlie Crokers of this world. And then there were the passive males who went into commercial banking, where all you did was lend money and sit back and collect interest.

Only people with MBAs from Wharton could even get it to function.

Every man had that red dog inside him, but only real men dared let him loose—

But, then, there was no way any of them could have possibly known that Raymond Peepgass had just slipped his red dog off the leash and let him out for the first romp of his life.

Only Epictetus began with the assumption that life is hard, brutal, punishing, narrow, and confining, a deadly business, and that fairness and unfairness are beside the point.

‘There are three ages of man: youth, middle age, and you-haven’t-changed-a-bit.’”

What makes you free is what’s inside you.’

the only real possession you’ll ever have is your character and your ‘scheme of life,’

“Just as every skill is strengthened by practice, so is every bad habit made worse by repetition.

‘No one can make progress facing both ways.’”

One of the few freedoms that we have as human beings that cannot be taken away from us is the freedom to assent to what is true and to deny what is false.

What is it you’re looking for in this endless quest? Tranquillity. You think if only you can acquire enough worldly goods, enough recognition, enough eminence, you will be free, there’ll be nothing more to worry about, and instead you become a bigger and bigger slave to how you think others are judging you.

What man’s ever been remembered as great because of the possessions he devoted his life to ’cumulating?