The whole life lies in the verb seeing.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
We spend our lives, all of us, waiting for the great day, the great battle, or the deed of power. But that external consummation is not given to many: nor is it necessary. So long as our being is tensed, directed with passion, towards that which is the spirit of all things, then that spirit will emerge from our own hidden, nameless effort.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life's significance stems from our passions and efforts rather than grand achievements.
In this quote, Pierre Teilhard De Chardin emphasizes that rather than waiting for extraordinary events or accomplishments to give our lives meaning, it is our ongoing passion and dedication towards our pursuits that truly shape our existence. He suggests that the essence and spirit of life are revealed through our consistent, albeit often unseen, efforts, highlighting the importance of internal motivation and direction over external recognition or milestones.
Themes
LifePassionEffortMeaningSpirit
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech, to encourage perseverance in personal goals.
More from Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
All quotes →Religion and science are the two conjugated faces or phases of one and the same complete act of knowledge - the only one which can embrace the past and future of evolution and so contemplate, measure and fulfil them.
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The mineral world is a much more supple and mobile world than could be imagined by the science of the ancients. Vaguely analogous to the metamorphoses of living creatures, there occurs in the most solid rocks, as we now know, perpetual transformation of a mineral species.
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We may, perhaps, imagine that the creation was finished long ago. But that would be quite wrong. It continues still more magnificently, and at the highest levels of the world.
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Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
If there is one thing I fear less than everything else, it is, I believe, persecution for my opinions. There are a good many points about which I may be diffident, but when it comes to questions of Truth and intellectual independence, there is no holding me - I can envisage no finer end than to sacrifice oneself for a conviction.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
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