All 3 Uses of
abase
in
Atlas Shrugged
- -an act which is not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exaltation, only in the confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire.†
Chpt 2.4 *
- Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it-that no substitute can do your thinking, as no pinch-hitter can live your lifethat the vilest form of self-abasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertions as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middle-man between your consciousness and…†
Chpt 3.7
- 'It's only human,' you cry in defense of any depravity, reaching the stage of self-abasement where you seek to make the concept 'human' mean the weakling, the fool, the rotter, the liar, the failure, the coward, the fraud, and to exile from the human race the hero, the thinker, the producer, the inventor, the strong, the purposeful, the pure-as if 'to feel' were human, but to think were not, as if to fail were human, but to succeed were not, as if corruption were human, but virtue were…†
Chpt 3.7
Definition:
-
(abase) treat as if of low worth -- often of self