About this quote

Status bought by shaming someone else is counterfeit, and the puzzle is why anyone mistakes it for the real thing. Putting a person down doesn't raise you; it only exposes a hunger that another's humiliation was never going to fill.

When to use it

• A boss who belittles staff in meetings to look powerful, and only looks smaller for it.
• An online pile-on where mocking a stranger is treated as a victory by everyone who joins in.
• Refusing to laugh along when a group turns a quieter classmate into the joke.