Nothing does reason more right, than the coolness of those that offer it: For Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.
William PennRead
While waiting for a Moses to lead us into the promised land, we have forgotten how to walk.
Interpretation
We often look for a savior or leader to guide us, forgetting the importance of self-reliance and personal action.
Wendell Johnson's quote highlights the tendency of people to wait passively for someone else to take charge and lead them to success or fulfillment, much like the biblical figure Moses leading the Israelites to the promised land. In doing so, they neglect to take initiative in their own lives, losing sight of their ability to walk their own paths and make progress independently.
In practice
In a speech about personal development, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of taking action.
Nothing does reason more right, than the coolness of those that offer it: For Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.
He wanted the songs, the stories, to save everybody.
There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you: You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth are the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
We learn in our guts, not just in our brain, that a life of joy is not in seeking happiness, but in experiencing and simply being the circumstances of our life as they are; not in fulfilling personal wants, but in fulfilling the needs of life.
But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.
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