Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
Woodrow WilsonRead
Caution is the confidential agent of selfishness.
Interpretation
Caution can often serve as a cover for selfish motives.
This quote suggests that being overly cautious can sometimes reflect an individual's selfishness, where the desire to protect one's own interests overrides the willingness to take risks or act benevolently. It implies that excessive caution may prevent one from considering the well-being of others, instead focusing solely on personal gain. Essentially, it challenges us to reflect on the underlying motivations behind our cautious behavior and to consider whether it stems from a self-centered viewpoint.
In practice
During a motivational speech on personal development.
Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused.
The history of liberty is the history of limitations on the power of government, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of power, we are resisting the processes of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties.
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers.
The way to stop financial joyriding is to arrest the chauffeur, not the automobile.
Once lead this people into war, and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street.
The process of growth is, it seems, the art of falling down. Growth is measured by the gentleness and awareness with which we once again pick ourselves up, the lightness with which we dust ourselves off, the openness with which we continue and take the next unknown step, beyond our edge, beyond our holding, into the remarkable mystery of being.
Never participate in the secrets of those above you; you think you share the fruit, and you share the stones - the confidence of a prince is not a grant, but a tax
If you donβt learn constantly, you donβt grow and you will wither. Too many people wither on the vine. Sure, it gets a little harder as you get older, but new experiences and new challenges keep it fresh.
There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.
Worry is a down payment on a problem you may never have
Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance.
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