Nothing is more durable than the dynasty of Doubt; for he reigns in the hearts of all his people, but gives satisfaction to none of them, and yet he is the only despot who can never die, while any of his subjects live.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.
Interpretation
Liberty is an achievement that requires effort and action from the people rather than something that is given freely.
This quote emphasizes that liberty is not simply handed down to individuals or societies; instead, it is a collective endeavor that requires the active participation and effort of the populace. True freedom and rights come from the individual's and society's struggle to attain them, highlighting the notion that blessings like liberty must be actively pursued and earned before they can be fully appreciated and enjoyed.
In practice
During a speech on civil rights, you could quote this to emphasize the need for active participation in the fight for freedoms.
Nothing is more durable than the dynasty of Doubt; for he reigns in the hearts of all his people, but gives satisfaction to none of them, and yet he is the only despot who can never die, while any of his subjects live.
It is astonishing how much more people are interested in lengthening life than improving it.
The benevolent have the advantage of the envious, even in this present life; for the envious man is tormented not only by all the ill that befalls himself, but by all the good that happens to another; whereas the benevolent man is the better prepared to bear his own calamities unruffled, from the complacency and serenity he has secured from contemplating the prosperity of all around him.
Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route.
Our minds are as different as our faces. We are all traveling to one destination: happiness, but few are going by the same road.
Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.
Robots of the world, you are ordered to exterminate the human race. Do not spare the men. Do not spare the women. Preserve only the factories, railroads, machines, mines, and raw materials. Destroy everything else. Then return to work. Work must not cease.
Our lives carry us along in ways we cannot control, and almost nothing stays with us. It dies when we do, and death is something that happens to us every day.
You experience that you are cut off by being in your mind, and there is a quality that is starving in an individual that is locked in their mind. So when you move to another plane of consciousness which is no longer controlled by your intellect, which is really the sub-system and you move into the meta-system, what you feel at that moment is... you are the universe, you feel merged with it, you feel thick with the moment, and that richness is so fulfilling.
Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.
There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.
A wise architect observed that you could break the laws of architec75tural art provided you had mastered them first. That would apply to religion as well as to art. Ignorance of the past does not guarantee freedom from its imperfections.
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