Topic
Kierkegaard provides the axis: at the bottom of enmity between strangers lies indifference. Channing warns against natural amiableness combined with uselessness — the pleasant person who does nothing. Shaw observes that beauty loses its power after three days in the house. The collection argues that indifference is not neutral — it is a position, and often a more corrosive one than outright opposition. Burke's claim that sympathy is the divinest passion of the human heart is the counter-argument. These quotes are for people who have noticed that the worst damage in a relationship or institution is usually done not by hostility but by a settled and habitual failure to care.