Slow but steady wins the race.
It is with our Passions, as it is with Fire and Water, they are 'Good Servants,' but 'Bad Masters.'
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our passions can be beneficial when controlled, but they can lead to negative outcomes when they control us.
This quote by Aesop highlights the dual nature of our passions, comparing them to fire and water. When harnessed correctly, passions can be powerful and beneficial tools that serve us well, just as fire can provide warmth and water can sustain life. However, when they dominate our lives and dictate our actions without restraint, they can become destructive, similar to how uncontrolled fire can cause devastation and excess water can lead to flooding. This serves as a reminder of the importance of balance and self-control in relation to our desires and motivations.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about the importance of emotional control in leadership.
More from Aesop
All quotes βWe often despise what is most useful to us.
The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own Lures. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
If you are a friend, why do you bite me so hard? If an enemy, why do you fawn on me?
The unhappy derive comfort from the misfortunes of others.
Similar quotes
Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.
Nowhere is wisdom more necessary than in the guidance of charitable impulses. Meaning well is only half our duty; Thinking right is the other, and equally important, half.
We live in an age that hath more need of good example than precepts.
My failures may be my greatest successes. It is in failure that I have often drawn closer to God, learn to depend more on Him than myself, gained self-knowledge, and seen things in their right perspective.
I was never more hated than when I tried to be honest. Or when, even as just now I've tried to articulate exactly what I felt to be the truth. No one was satisfied
Meditation _x000D_ practice begins by sitting down and assuming your seat cross-legged on _x000D_ the ground. You begin to feel that by simply being on the spot, your _x000D_ life can become workable and even wonderful. You realize that you are _x000D_ capable of sitting like a king or queen on a throne. The regalness of _x000D_ that situation shows you the... dignity that comes from being still and _x000D_ simple.