Remember that happiness is as contagious as gloom. It should be the first duty of those who are happy to let others know of their gladness.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
The dog is the only living being that has found and recognizes an indubitable, tangible and definite god. He knows to whom above him to give himself. He has not to seek for a superior and infinite power.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that dogs inherently recognize a higher power or purpose without the need for questioning.
In this quote, Maurice Maeterlinck asserts that dogs possess a unique understanding of their place in the universe and a relationship with a higher power. Unlike humans who often search for meaning or divinity, dogs seem to naturally submit to their faith and loyalty to this higher presence, representing a simplicity and clarity in their acknowledgment of what is above them.
Themes
DogFaithHigher PowerLoyaltySimplicity
In practice
Example use cases
You could use this quote during a speech about the unconditional love of pets.
More from Maurice Maeterlinck
All quotes →No living creature, not even man, has achieved, in the centre of his sphere, what the bee has achieved in her own: and were some one from another world to descend and ask of the earth the most perfect creation of the logic of life, we should needs have to offer the humble comb of honey.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together ... Speech is too often ... the act of quite stifling and suspending thought, so that there is none to conceal ... Speech is of Time, silence is of Eternity ... It is idle to think that, by means of words, any real communication can ever pass from one man to another.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
As soon as we put something into words, we devalue it in a strange way. We think we have plunged into the depths of the abyss, and when we return to the surface the drop of water on our pale fingertips no longer resembles the sea from which it comes. We delude ourselves that we have discovered a wonderful treasure trove, and when we return to the light of day we find that we have brought back only false stones and shards of glass; and yet the treasure goes on glimmering in the dark, unaltered.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
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There is no inherent awakening power in cultural forms that have become dissociated from the wisdom and practicality that gave birth to them. They turn into illusions themselves and become part of the drama of religious culture. Although they can make us happy temporarily, they can't free us from suffering, so at some point, they become a source of disappointment and discouragement. Eventually, these forms may inspire nothing more than resistance to their authority.
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