The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
Interpretation
Appreciating the good things in life can be more challenging than it seems.
This quote by Eric Hoffer emphasizes the importance of gratitude and self-awareness in our lives. It suggests that recognizing and valuing our blessings is a complex task that requires introspection and a mindset focused on positivity, rather than merely counting material possessions or achievements.
In practice
This quote can inspire a discussion on gratitude during a personal development workshop.
Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.
Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated?
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.
Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
I thank God for my failures. Maybe not at the time but after some reflection. I never feel like a failure just because something I tried has failed.
He who hoards much loses much.
They that will not be counseled, cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you on the knuckles.
The sun shines equally on diamond and charcoal, but the former has developed qualities that enable it to reflect the sunlight brilliantly, while the latter is unable to reflect the sunlight. Emulate the diamond in your dealings with people. Brightly reflect the light of God's love.
Reason, too late perhaps, may convince you of the folly of misspending time.
Thus I, gone forth, as spiders do, In spiderβs web a truth discerning, Attach one silken strand to you For my returning.
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