Almost no one is foolish enough to imagine that he automatically deserves great success in any field of activity; yet almost everyone believes that he automatically deserves success in marriage.
Interpretation
Success in marriage is often expected without effort, unlike other pursuits which require hard work.
This quote highlights the paradox in societal expectations regarding success in different aspects of life. While people generally recognize that achieving great success in their careers or hobbies requires dedication and perseverance, many tend to assume that a successful marriage should come effortlessly, revealing a gap in understanding the complexities and work involved in sustaining a healthy and fulfilling relationship.
In practice
During a wedding speech, I could refer to this quote to emphasize the importance of continual effort in marriage.
A person is either himself or not himself; is either rooted in his existence or is a fabrication; has either found his humanhood or is still playing with masks and roles and status symbols. And nobody is more aware of this difference (although unconsciously) than a child. Only an authentic person can evoke a good response in the core of the other person; only person is resonant to person.
We evaluate others with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with a Godlike compassion.
The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes them a mother - which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician.
Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.
"Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong, and we glorify it.
At it's highest level, the purpose of teaching is not to teachβit is to inspire the desire for learning. Once a student's mind is set on fire, it will find a way to provide its own fuel.
Sometimes, we get numb to the fact that people get sent away. We don't see where they are; we say they are 'doing time,' and you really don't know what that is.
Handshaking means, 'I don't have a weapon.'
My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder's mitt. he was left handed. The thing that was descriptive about it though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so that he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up to bat
Because our ancestors lived in social groups that changed slowly, because they encountered the same people throughout their lives, they could keep almost every social detail they needed to know in their heads.
When people say 'marriage' to me... It's always a means to an end. Everyone's so in a rush to define the relationship.
Labels cloud our vision and distract us from seeing how much we have in common with one another.
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