The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young.
Phillips BrooksRead
Character - Some day, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long-continued process.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Character is shaped by our ongoing struggles, not just by our responses to major crises.
This quote emphasizes that true character is forged through the daily challenges and quiet struggles we face rather than only in moments of great temptation or sorrow. It suggests that the foundational experiences and choices made during ordinary times prepare us for the significant trials of life, determining whether we will triumph or falter when confronted with them.
Themes
CharacterStruggleTemptationSorrowProcess
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about resilience, one might say, 'Remember, as Phillips Brooks stated, the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks.'
More from Phillips Brooks
All quotes →We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
Phillips BrooksRead
The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.
Phillips BrooksRead
To believe in the God over us and around us and not in the God within us - that would be a powerless and fruitless faith.
Phillips BrooksRead
To say, 'well done' to any bit of good work is to take hold of the powers which have made the effort and strengthen them beyond our knowledge.
Phillips BrooksRead
Think of life as a voyage. The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.
Phillips BrooksRead
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