How can a man be so brave and so stupid, so gentle and so cruel, so warming and so detestable -- all at the same time?
James ClavellRead
The search for the truth is the most important work in the whole world - and the most dangerous.
Interpretation
Seeking truth is crucial but can be perilous.
This quote emphasizes the significance of pursuing truth, which is considered to be the most essential task in life. However, it also highlights the inherent risks and dangers that accompany this quest, as uncovering the truth can challenge established norms and threaten one's safety or well-being.
In practice
In a speech about integrity, one might quote Clavell to emphasize the value of honesty.
How can a man be so brave and so stupid, so gentle and so cruel, so warming and so detestable -- all at the same time?
Love is a Christian word, Anjin-san. Love is a Christian thought, a Christian ideal. We have no word for 'love' as I understand you to mean it. Duty, loyalty, honor, respect, desire, those words and thoughts are what we have, all that we need.
.., by universal custom, your enemy is never more polite than when he is planning or has planned your destruction.
Of what real value is a title? The power is the only important thing
You must realise now, more clearly than ever, that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, secular and civil activities of human life. He waits for us everyday, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fileds, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work.
I cannot conceive of a greater loss than the loss of one's self-respect.
Most novices picture themselves as masters - and are content with the picture. This is why there are so few masters.
if you don't have doubts you're either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants-in-the-pants of faith. They keep it alive and moving.
Anger is better. There is a sense of being in anger. A reality and presence. An awareness of worth. It is a lovely surging.
beware the average man the average woman beware their love, their love is average seeks average but there is genius in their hatred there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you to kill anybody not wanting solitude not understanding solitude they will attempt to destroy anything that differs from their own not being able to create art they will not understand art they will consider their failure as creators only as a failure of the world
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