If God treats you well by teaching you a disastrous lesson, you never forget it.
Interpretation
Difficult lessons may be painful, but they leave a lasting impact on our lives.
This quote by Ray Bradbury suggests that some of our most significant and unforgettable lessons come from difficult or disastrous experiences. It underscores the idea that while such lessons can be painful and challenging, they ultimately contribute to our growth and understanding in profound ways, shaping our character and our approach to life.
In practice
A motivational speaker discussing the importance of learning from failures at a conference.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we canβt imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You donβt stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.
Whatever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves... how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers.
Every human being should be taught that his first duty is to take care of himself, and that to be self-respecting he must be self-supporting. To live on the labor of others, either by force which enslaves, or by cunning which robs, or by borrowing or begging, is wholly dishonorable. Every man should be taught some useful art.
The race may not always be to the swift nor the victory to the strong, but that's how you bet.
It's funny: when people always talk about the importance of role models, I used to think that was so exaggerated, but as I get older, I start to realize I don't feel that way so much anymore. If you see somebody like you who's doing something, an older version of what you are, it does make you feel like it's more possible.
Embrace simplicity. Put others first. Desire little.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.