To be kind is more important than to be right. Many times, what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks but a special heart that listens.
Interpretation
Kindness surpasses correctness; listening is often more valuable than speaking intelligently.
This quote emphasizes the importance of kindness over the pursuit of being correct in discussions or debates. It suggests that true understanding and compassion come from listening to others with an open heart, rather than simply showcasing one's intellect or arguments. In essence, it highlights the value of emotional intelligence and connection in human interactions.
In practice
During a team meeting, you might share this quote to encourage a culture of listening over arguing.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing.
Life is not quantifiable in terms of age, but I suppose in my fifties I am more grounded and more at ease in my own skin than when I was younger. I have a confidence that I didn't have before from the experiences I've had.
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
I saw something even more beautiful than a sense of humor: an appreciation for lifeβs essential absurdity.
Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life.
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