If two lives join, there is oft a scar. They are one and one, with a shadowy third; One near one is too far.
Robert BrowningRead
You call for faith: I show you doubt, to prove that faith exists. The more of doubt, the stronger faith, I say, If faith o'ercomes doubt.
Interpretation
Doubt and faith are interconnected, with doubt actually strengthening faith.
Robert Browning's quote suggests that faith is often only discernible through the presence of doubt. It implies that experiencing doubt can lead to a deeper and stronger belief, as overcoming doubt is a crucial part of the faith journey. This highlights the complexity of faith and encourages individuals to embrace their uncertainties as part of their spiritual growth.
In practice
A speaker addressing a group about overcoming challenges may use this quote to emphasize the relationship between doubt and faith.
If two lives join, there is oft a scar. They are one and one, with a shadowy third; One near one is too far.
Tis Man's to explore up and down, inch by inch, with the taper his reason.
I think, am sure, a brother's love exceeds_x000D_ _x000D_ All the world's loves in its unworldliness.
I dare not so honor my mere wishes and prayers as to put them for a moment beside your noble acts; but this know, I would rather submit to the worst of deaths, so far as pain goes, than have a single dog or cat tortured on the pretence of sparing me a twinge or two.
How well I know what I mean to do When the long dark Autumn evenings come, And where, my soul, is thy pleasant hue? With the music of all thy voices, dumb In lifeβs November too! I shall be found by the fire, suppose, Oβer a great wise book as beseemeth age, While the shutters flap as the cross-wind blows, And I turn the page, and I turn the page, Not verse now, only prose!
How good is life, the mere living!
There is no perfection only life
The operation of the Church is entirely set up for the sinner; which creates much misunderstanding among the smug.β (August 9, 1955)
I had a sense then of how if we truly understood how many of the unimportant things we do will end up outliving us, we'd never be able to go on.
There is an important idea in psychology: The 'just world theory,' which says that it is very important for us to convince ourselves that the world is just and things happen for a reason. That there is some elemental fairness in everything, which creates the illusion of justice.
To hell with the future. It's a man-eating idol.
It would have been difficult to design a path out of communism worse than the one that has been followed.
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