We find it easier to endure guilt than to change our ways. Though we deny it with our words, our actions confirm that we would prefer to have to live with what we’ve done wrong than to set those wrongs right. It is far easier to know we have ruined another life than to say, “I must find a way to take pleasure in what I now find difficult and to cease to do what harms others though at present it is my primary source of joy.” Or as La Rouchefoucauld said:
We are always strong enough to endure the misfortunes of others.