Status Anxiety

"There goes the Spicer Wilcoxes, Mama! I'm told theey're dying to know us. Hadn't we better call?"
"Certainly not dear. If they are dying to know us. they are not worth knowing. The only people worth knowing are they people who don't want to know us."

***

Belittling others is no pasttime for those convinced of their own standing. There is terror behind haughtiness, and it takes a punishing