I finally understand what Machiavelli meant when he said, "Never play fair in a game where others cheat." It doesn't mean become evil. It means stop being naive. Stop bringing honesty to people who study manipulation, stop giving access to people who weaponize closeness, and stop expecting clean hands from people who already showed you they'll throw dirt.
Sometimes wisdom is not revenge.
Sometimes wisdom is learning the rules of the room before the room uses your goodness against you.
People who like you are gonna find reasons to like you, and people who dislike you are gonna find reasons to dislike you. Two people can watch you do the exact same thing and one will understand you while the other finds a problem with it.
Low quality people are incapable of recognising and appreciating high quality traits in other people, for example they see empathy and kindness as a weakness to exploit.
Is it just me or anyone else noticed social and spatial awareness completely vanishing? People freezing in doorways, hogging the entire sidewalk, planted in front of exits, blocking whole aisles, stopping at the top of escalators… Get out of the way. Other people exist here too.
Idk my hot take is that if you’re quick to be petty or do things to someone out of spite, you just don’t genuinely like that person 💀 nastiness shouldn’t come so easily to you like that