When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.
Edith HamiltonRead
When the mind withdraws into itself and dispenses with facts it makes only chaos.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that isolating one's thoughts and ignoring reality leads to disorder and confusion.
Edith Hamiltonβs quote emphasizes the importance of grounding our thoughts in factual reality. When individuals allow their minds to disconnect from tangible facts and withdraw into a subjective state, it often results in disorderly thinking and chaos, highlighting the necessity of maintaining a balance between introspection and external knowledge.
In practice
In a debate on mental health, someone might quote this to stress the importance of facing reality.
When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.
The power of good is shown not by triumphantly conquering evil, but by continuing to resist evil while facing certain defeat.
Theories that go counter to the facts of human nature are foredoomed.
To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful ... was a mark of the Greek spirit.
Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom.
So far, we do not seem appalled at the prospect of exactly the same kind of education being applied to all the school children from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but there is an uneasiness in the air, a realization that the individual is growing less easy to find; an idea, perhaps, of what standardization might become when the units are not machines, but human beings.
If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.
Perhaps the best place to begin with an integral approach to business is with.. oneself. In the Big Three of self, culture, and world, integral mastery starts with self. How do body and mind and spirit operate in me? How does that necessarily impact my role in the world of business? And how can I become more conscious of these already operating realities in myself and in others?
Do not take the agenda that someone else has mapped out for your life.
I'm not interested in blind optimism, but I'm very interested in optimism that is hard-won, that takes on darkness and then says, 'This is not enough.'
Whatever difficulty you face, there are time-tried ways you can listen your way through. Because listening is the doorway to everything that matters. It enlivens the heart the way breathing enlivens the lungs. We listen to awaken our heart. We do this to stay vital and alive.
The best tournament players actually try to avoid risky plays altogether. They prefer to wait for their opponents to make the risky moves. They'll wait patiently until they catch a strong hand. When they do, they'll take down their overly aggressive foes.
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