It's easier for the former masters to put aside the masks that hid their humanity than for the former slaves to recognise the faces underneath. Or to trust that this is not a new mask these are wearing.
Nadine GordimerRead
The gap between the committed and the indifferent is a Sahara whose faint trails, followed by the mind's eye only, fade out in sand.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the vast difference between those who are dedicated and those who are indifferent.
Nadine Gordimer's quote highlights the stark contrast between commitment and indifference, comparing the indifferent to a barren desert where only the remnants of effort linger. The 'Sahara' symbolizes the emptiness and challenges faced by those who lack commitment, while the 'faint trails' suggest that the journeys of dedicated individuals may not always be visible but are nonetheless significant.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage commitment in a team setting.
It's easier for the former masters to put aside the masks that hid their humanity than for the former slaves to recognise the faces underneath. Or to trust that this is not a new mask these are wearing.
Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.
Art defies defeat by its very existence, representing the celebration of life, in spite of all attempts to degrade and destroy it.
A truly living human being cannot remain neutral.
If people would forget about utopia! When rationalism destroyed heaven and decided to set it up here on earth, that most terrible of all goals entered human ambition. It was clear there'd be no end to what people would be made to suffer for it.
The caged eagle become a metaphor for all forms of isolation, the ultimate in imprisonment. A zoo is prison.
One by one I have seen obstacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all the elements that go to make up the sum of the general welfare. And I remember that God reigns in eternity, and that whatever delays, whatever disappointments and discouragements may come, truth, justice, liberty and humanity will ultimately prevail.
Self-discipline is a rigorous process at best; too many of us want it to be effortless and painless.
I keep a hotel room in my town, although I have a large house. And I go there at about 5:30 in the morning, and I start working. And I don't allow anybody to come in that room. I work on yellow pads and with ballpoint pens. I keep a Bible, a thesaurus, a dictionary, and a bottle of sherry. I stay there until midday.
Always have the situation under control, even if losing. Never betray an inward sense of defeat.
The hardest exercise for most of us fat people is that one where we push our chairback from the dinner table.
I am not a has-been. I am a will be.
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