… is from Thomas Sowell’s October 6th, 1963, letter to a Mrs. Mann, as this letter appears on pages 37-38 of Sowell’s 2007 collection, A Man of Letters:
Let us face it – most people are pretty damned satisfied with themselves the way they are, though they would like to see lots of improvements in the world around them. There is probably no more thankless task than trying to get people to shed their illusions and realize that there are certain objective standards which they simply must meet, that they cannot go on whining their way through the world looking for favors (and reacting like wounded animals when they do not get them).