Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
Life is thickly sown with thorns. I know no other remedy than to pass rapidly over them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.
Interpretation
Life is full of challenges, and dwelling on them only increases their impact.
Voltaire's quote reflects a philosophical view on the nature of life and suffering. He suggests that life is inherently filled with difficulties, represented by 'thorns,' but emphasizes the importance of moving past these challenges quickly. By doing so, we diminish their ability to cause harm and suffering in our lives. It points to the idea that fixation on misfortunes can amplify their negative effects, urging individuals to adopt a forward-thinking approach to life's adversities.
In practice
During a motivational speech on overcoming adversity, this quote can inspire resilience.
Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
I cannot imagine a context that would some day, in some manner, make the monstrous crime of September 11 an understandable or comprehensible political act
There lies at the back of every creed something terrible and hard for which the worshipper may one day be required to suffer.
I like imagination -- and the way I think things could be, had been, or should be -- better than reality.
Melancholy is at the bottom of everything, just as at the end of all rivers is the sea. Can it be otherwise in a world where nothing lasts, where all that we have loved or shall love must die? Is death, then, the secret of life? The gloom of an eternal mourning enwraps, more or less closely, every serious and thoughtful soul, as night enwraps the universe.
All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness.
If we don’t want to define ourselves by things as superficial as our appearances, we’re stuck with the revolting alternative of being judged by our actions.
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