How seldom we weigh our neighbor in the same balance with ourselves.
Thomas A KempisRead
Who has a harder fight than he who is striving to overcome himself.
Interpretation
The toughest battles are often the ones we fight within ourselves as we seek personal improvement.
This quote by Thomas A Kempis highlights the internal struggles that individuals face when striving for self-improvement. Overcoming personal limitations, fears, and failures requires significant effort and courage, making it one of the hardest challenges anyone can undertake. It implies that self-mastery is more difficult than external conflicts, emphasizing the importance of inner strength and resilience in the pursuit of personal growth.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal development.
How seldom we weigh our neighbor in the same balance with ourselves.
He will easily be content and at peace, whose conscience is pure.
Trust not to your feelings for whatever they might be now, they will quickly be changed towards some other thing.
Jesus has many who love the kingdom of God, but few who bear a cross. He has many who desire His comfort, but few who desire His suffering. All want to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for Him. He writes; there are many who admire his miracles, but there are few who follow in the humiliation of the cross.
Anyone who thinks hard work will never hurt you has never had to pay to have it done. Jesus now has many lovers of his Heavenly Kingdom, but few bearers of his cross.
He has great tranquillity of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by word can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God.
There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.
Better not be at all than not be noble.
Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.
Mass communication--wonder as it may be technologically and something to be appreciated and valued--presents us wit a serious daner, the danger of conformism, due to the fact that we all view the same things at the same time in all the cities of the country. (p. 73)
We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won't let them into our country.
Too much openness and you accept every notion, idea, and hypothesis-which is tantamount to knowing nothing. Too much skepticism-especially rejection of new ideas before they are adequately tested-and you're not only unpleasantly grumpy, but also closed to the advance of science. A judicious mix is what we need.
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