When we start deceiving ourselves into thinking not that we want something or need something, not that it is a pragmatic necessity for us to have it, but that it is a moral imperative that we have it, then is when we join the fashionable madmen, and then is when the thin whine of hysteria is heard in the land, and then is when we are in bad trouble.

Summary

This quote emphasizes the danger of deceiving ourselves into believing that our desires or wants are not just personal preferences but moral obligations. It warns against the trend of becoming fashionable madmen who obsessively pursue these desires, leading to a sense of hysteria and creating trouble in society. By blurring the lines between personal desires and moral imperatives, we risk losing rationality and perspective, causing potential harm in our pursuit of what we believe to be morally necessary.

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