Never promise more than you can perform.
Publilius SyrusRead
Even a god finds it hard to love and be wise at the same time. -Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur
Interpretation
Balancing love and wisdom is challenging, even for the most powerful beings.
This quote suggests that even those with extraordinary capabilities, like a god, struggle to harmonize the complex emotions of love with the clarity of wisdom. It highlights the inherent difficulties in nurturing deep emotional connections while maintaining rational judgment, implying that love can cloud judgment and vice versa.
In practice
In a discussion on relationships, this quote can illustrate the challenges of emotional connections.
Never promise more than you can perform.
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.
In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.
Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.
What a tragedy is help where it harms what it supports!
The miser is as much in want of what he has as of what he has not.
Catelyn wanted to run to him, to kiss his sweet brow, to wrap him in her arms so tightly that he would never come to harm.
I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her.
It's hard to love yourself when you've been told your whole life that there is something wrong with you - when you are called dirty because of your skin color.
Make no mistake: I love women. I'm married to one, I was birthed by one, and I played one in my high school production of 'Romeo and Juliet.' No one else could fit into the bodice.
Perfect love is the most beautiful of all frustrations because it is more than one can express.
While the womanly god demands our veneration, the godlike woman kindles our love; but while we allow ourselves to melt in the celestial loveliness, the celestial self-sufficiency holds us back in awe.
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