One makes mistakes; that is life. But it is never a mistake to have loved.
Romain RollandRead
The greatest human ideal is the great cause of bringing together the thoughts of Europe and Asia; the great soul of India will topple our world.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of unity and collaboration between cultures, specifically Europe and Asia, highlighting India's influential spirit.
Romain Rolland reflects on the significant potential that arises from bridging Eastern and Western cultures, suggesting that the wisdom and spirit of India can lead to profound transformations in the world. This unity of thoughts between Europe and Asia is portrayed as a noble ideal, where the essence of India's great soul could inspire and elevate humanity.
In practice
In a speech about cultural diplomacy, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of collaboration.
One makes mistakes; that is life. But it is never a mistake to have loved.
Discussion is impossible with someone who claims not to seek the truth, but already to possess it.
I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so.
Skepticism, riddling the faith of yesterday, prepared the way for the faith of tomorrow.
Each man must learn his own ideal and try to accomplish it: that is a surer way of progress than to take the ideas of another.
The true Vedantic spirit does not start out with a system of preconceived ideas. It possesses absolute liberty and unrivalled courage among religions with regard to the facts to be observed and the diverse hypotheses it has laid down for their coordination. Never having been hampered by a priestly order, each man has been entirely free to search wherever he pleased for the spiritual explanation of the spectacle of the universe.
I was lying, but I wanted to rouse him. I have an inborn urge to contradict; my whole life has been a mere chain of sad and futile opposition to the dictates of either heart or reason. The presence of an enthusiast makes me as cold as a midwinter's day, and, I believe, frequent association with a listless phlegmatic would make me an impassioned dreamer.
If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.
Certainly, poverty and economic decline have a lot to do with the so-called rage of Islam. You've got all these young men in countries which are economically in bad shape. The idea that they might be able to make a good living and get married and have a family, a decent life, seems very remote to a lot of people in a lot of the world.
Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.
Maybe I don't need a relationship after all, she thought. Maybe thinking about these conversations was just as good as having them. She could sit in her Honda in the dark and experience whatever kind of life she wanted. Sometimes you think, Hey, maybe there's something else out there. But there really isn't. This is what being alive feels like, you know? The place doesn't matter. You just live.
The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.