Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust. In a closely beleaguered city every sentry is a potential traitor.
Interpretation
Insecurity can distort perceptions and undermine trust between people.
Graham Greene's quote highlights how insecurity can lead to misunderstandings and erode the foundation of trust in relationships. In a tense environment, where individuals are constantly on guard, their fears and doubts can turn even loyal allies into perceived threats, ultimately harming interpersonal connections and communication.
In practice
This quote can be used in a seminar on trust-building in personal and professional relationships.
It seemed to Scobie that life was immeasurably long. Couldn’t the test of man have been carried out in fewer years? Couldn’t we have committed our first major sin at seven, have ruined ourselves for love or hate at ten, have clutched at redemption on a fifteen-year-old deathbed?
God is love. I don't say the heart doesn't feel a taste of it, but what a taste. The smallest glass of love mixed with a pint pot of ditch-water. We wouldn't recognize that love. It might even look like hate. It would be enough to scare us - God's love.
Of two hearts one is always warm and one is always cold: the cold heart is more precious than diamonds: the warm heart has no value and is thrown away.
Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.
Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.
It is only when we stand up, with all our failings and sufferings, and try to support others rather than withdraw into ourselves, that we can fully live the life of community.
You can date whoever you want, but you should marry the nerds and the good guys.
Christian virtues unite men. Racism separates them.
So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection.
Why can't black women on stage tell stories that can affect white men in the audience?
If I'm with a man, is that going to prevent me from achieving my goal? What sacrifices will I have to make in terms of being myself, if I'm with a man? Something that young women find out really quickly is that when you start dating, all of a sudden you're supposed to have a role. You're not allowed to just be yourself.
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