When people complain of life, it is almost always because they have asked impossible things of it.
Interpretation
People often feel dissatisfied with life when they set unrealistic expectations.
This quote by Ernest Renan suggests that dissatisfaction with life frequently arises from unrealistic demands or expectations placed upon it. When individuals expect too much from their circumstances or life itself, they are likely to encounter disappointment and frustration, leading to complaints about their experiences.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech about the importance of realistic goal-setting.
None of the miracles with which ancient histories are filled, occurred under scientific conditions. Observation never once contradicted, teaches us that miracles occur only in periods and countries in which they are believed in and before persons disposed to believe in them.
Man makes holy what he believes as he makes beautiful what he loves.
Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation.
He whom God has touched will always be a being apart: he is, whatever he may do, a stranger among men; he is marked by a sign.
Let us remember that sorrow alone is the creator of great things.
The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true.
I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken - and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.
PREDESTINATION, n. The doctrine that all things occur according to programme. . . . not be confused with that of foreordination. The difference is great enough to have deluged Christendom with ink, to say nothing of the gore.
What we call real estate - the solid ground to build a house on - is the broad foundation on which nearly all the guilt of this world rests.
For everyone nowadays knows, absolutely is CERTAIN, that nothing bad will ever happen to ME. Others die, I go on. There are no consequences and no responsibilities. Except that there ARE. But let's not talk about them, eh? By the time the consequences catch up to you, it's too late, isn't it, Montag?
I like imagination -- and the way I think things could be, had been, or should be -- better than reality.
Suicides have a special language. Like carpenters they want to know which tools. They never ask why build.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.