Nature smiles at the union of freedom and equality in our utopias. For freedom and equality are sworn and everlasting enemies, and when one prevails the other dies.
Will DurantRead
To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The ability to remain silent can be a crucial skill in negotiation and diplomacy.
This quote highlights the importance of silence and discretion in communication, particularly in diplomatic contexts where words can have significant consequences. It suggests that knowing when to hold back one's thoughts is as important as knowing what to say, as it allows for a more strategic and thoughtful approach to discussions.
Themes
DiplomacySilenceCommunicationStrategyDiscretion
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about effective negotiation techniques.
More from Will Durant
All quotes →The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, not even the East vs. the West; it is whether men can bear to live without God.
Will DurantRead
If we have never been amazed by the very fact that we exist, we are squandering the greatest fact of all.
Will DurantRead
Philosophy is harmonized knowledge making a harmonious life; it is the self-discipline which lifts us to serenity and freedom. Knowledge is power, but only wisdom is liberty.
Will DurantRead
If you wish to be loved, be modest; if you wish to be admired, be proud; if you wish both, combine external modesty with internal pride.
Will DurantRead
When liberty destroys order the hunger for order will destroy liberty.
Will DurantRead
Similar quotes
wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth.
Emily BronteRead
Civilization depends on morality.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
The greatest act of faith is when a man understands he is not God.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Read
He saw merchants trading, princes hunting, mourners wailing for their dead, whores offering themselves, physicians trying to help the sick, priests determining the most suitable day for seeding, lovers loving, mothers nursing their children—and all of this was not worthy of one look from his eye, it all lied, it all stank, it all stank of lies, it all pretended to be meaningful and joyful and beautiful, and it all was just concealed putrefaction. The world tasted bitter. Life was torture
Hermann HesseRead
I am a personal optimist but a skeptic about all else. What may sound to some like anger is really nothing more than sympathetic contempt. I view my species with a combination of wonder and pity, and I root for its destruction. And please don't confuse my point of view with cynicism; the real cynics are the ones who tell you everything's gonna be all right.
George CarlinRead
We are the makers of our own lives. There is no such thing as fate. Our lives are the result of our previous actions, our karma, and it naturally flows that, having been ourselves the makers of our karma, we must also be able to unmake it.
Swami VivekanandaRead