Nature smiles at the union of freedom and equality in our utopias. For freedom and equality are sworn and everlasting enemies, and when one prevails the other dies.
Will DurantRead
The ego is willing but the machine cannot go on. It's the last thing a man will admit, that his mind ages.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the conflict between one's ego and the limitations of their aging mind and body.
Will Durant's quote highlights the struggle between the desires of the ego and the reality of physical and mental decline that accompanies aging. It suggests that while one's willpower may remain strong, the capabilities of the body and mind may not support those ambitions, leading to an internal conflict that many are reluctant to acknowledge.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about the realities of aging.
Nature smiles at the union of freedom and equality in our utopias. For freedom and equality are sworn and everlasting enemies, and when one prevails the other dies.
The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, not even the East vs. the West; it is whether men can bear to live without God.
If we have never been amazed by the very fact that we exist, we are squandering the greatest fact of all.
Philosophy is harmonized knowledge making a harmonious life; it is the self-discipline which lifts us to serenity and freedom. Knowledge is power, but only wisdom is liberty.
If you wish to be loved, be modest; if you wish to be admired, be proud; if you wish both, combine external modesty with internal pride.
When liberty destroys order the hunger for order will destroy liberty.
I don't feel any vulgar gratitude to you[for helping me]. I almost feel as if You ought to be grateful to ME, for giving you the opportunity of enjoying the luxury of generosity. . . I may have come into the world expressly for the purpose of increasing your stock of happiness. I may have been born to be a benefactor to you, by giving you an opportunity of assisting me.
I lean over you, your equal, offering you a mirror for your perfect nothingness, for your shadows which are neither light nor absence of light, for this void which contemplates. To all that which you are, and, for our language, are not, I add a consciousness. I make you experience your supreme identity as a relationship, I name you and define you. You become a delicious passivity.
Reality is like a doughnut: Everything that is good and funny and juicy is outside the center, which is just emptiness.
I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.
The fancies of wine are authentic events.
I don't think there's such a thing as autobiographical fiction. If I say it happened, it happened, even if only in my mind.
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