Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it.
Jean PaulRead
Like a morning dream, life becomes more and more bright the longer we live, and the reason of everything appears more clear. What has puzzled us before seems less mysterious, and the crooked paths look straighter as we approach the end.
Interpretation
As we grow older, life becomes clearer and more fulfilling, revealing its truths over time.
This quote by Jean Paul reflects on the journey of life and how, with time and experience, our understanding deepens. Just as a morning dream fades but can reveal a brighter day, the complexities and uncertainties that once puzzled us begin to resolve, allowing us to see the beauty and purpose in our life story as we approach its later stages.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a graduation speech to emphasize the importance of learning from life experiences.
Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it.
Man's feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell.
A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes anothers.
There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.
If self-knowledge is the road to virtue, so is virtue still more the road to self-knowledge.
I would rather dwell in the dim fog of superstition than in air rarefied to nothing by the air-pump of unbelief-in which the panting breast expires, vainly and convulsively gasping for breath.
Longevity, for a columnist, is a simple proposition: Once you start, you don't stop. You do it until you die or can no longer put a sentence together. It has always been my intention to die at my desk, although my most cherished ambition is to outlive the estate tax.
As I apologized to her a flicker of panic raced through me and then faded away. There wasn't enough life left in me to panic. I'd made a mistake and I was dying. Apparently not even a Speck afterlife was available to me. I'd simply stop being. Apparently I hadn't died correctly. Oops.
Consider a man riding a bicycle. Whoever he is, we can say three things about him. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. Most important of all, we know that if at any point between the beginning and the end of his journey he stops moving and does not get off the bicycle he will fall off it. That is a metaphor for the journey through life of any living thing, and I think of any society of living things.
I don't think I'll ever act again. I have so many wonderful memories, but those days are over.
Since 1981, I've spent every Thanksgiving Day broadcasting a game, and it is one of my favorite days. You can say, 'Woe is me, I never get to be part of the tradition,' or you can say, 'Heck, we've got our own tradition, and it's pretty good.'
A lot of people would have loved me to keep singing... You come to a point where you have sung, more or less... your whole repertoire and you want to get down to the job of living.
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