Admire and adore the Author of the telescopic universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend.
John AdamsRead
The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Difficult experiences lead to personal and communal growth.
This quote by John Adams suggests that hardships and challenges, likened to a furnace, can refine and improve both individuals and societies. Just as metal is forged and strengthened through high temperatures, so too can people and communities emerge stronger and more refined from their struggles and afflictions.
Themes
AfflictionRefinementGrowthChallengesStrength
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming obstacles.
More from John Adams
All quotes βProperty monopolized or in the possession of a few is a curse to mankind.
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Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.
John AdamsRead
There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.
John AdamsRead
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John AdamsRead
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
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In such a performance you may lay the foundation of national happiness only in religion, not by leaving it doubtful "whether morals can exist without it," but by asserting that without religion morals are the effects of causes as purely physical as pleasant breezes and fruitful seasons.
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The present Hindu society is organised only for spiritual men, and hopelessly crushes out everybody else. Why? Where shall they go who want to enjoy the world a little with its frivolities? Just as our religion takes in all, so should our society. This is to be worked out by first understanding the true principles of our religion and then applying them to society. This is the slow but sure work to be done.
Swami VivekanandaRead
As you you deeply into your own awareness, and relax the self-contraction, and dissolve into the empty ground of your own primordial experience, the simply feeling of Being-right now, right here-is it not obvious at once?
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Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.
Gautama BuddhaRead