What I have taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the idea of standing by one's beliefs, even at the cost of one's life.
Jan Hus, a martyr and reformer, expresses the profound commitment to his teachings and principles. By stating that he seals what he has taught with his blood, he conveys an ultimate sacrifice in defense of his beliefs, embodying the idea that true conviction often demands the utmost courage and willingness to face dire consequences for one's truth.
In practice
In a speech about social justice, one might say, 'Like Jan Hus, I believe in fighting for what is right, even at great personal risk.'
I hope, by God's grace, that I am truly a Christian, not deviating from the faith, and that I would rather suffer the penalty of a terrible death than wish to affirm anything outside of the faith or transgress the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I entreat masters to live a good life and faithfully to instruct their scholars, especially that they may love God and learn to give themselves to knowledge, in order to promote His honour, the welfare of the state, and their own salvation, but not for the sake of avarice or the praise of man.
For cancer patients like me, and for others who suffer from chronic or life-threatening illnesses, natural disasters don't put health on the back burner.
The true courage of civilized nations is readiness for sacrifice in the service of the state, so that the individual counts as only one amongst many. The important thing here is not personal mettle but aligning oneself with the universal.
I am not going to die, I'm going home like a shooting star.
Tonight, savagery in the streets of Iraq. Ten Americans die in a single day, four of them civilians murdered, mutilated and dragged through the streets....What drives American civilians to risk death in Iraq? In this economy it may be, for some, the only job they can find.
When I was raped I lost my virginity and almost lost my life. I also discarded certain assumptions I had held about how the world worked and about how safe I was.
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
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