No single event can awaken within us a stranger whose existence we had never suspected. To live is to be slowly born.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that life is a gradual process of self-discovery and awakening to our true potential.
Antoine De Saint-Exupery's quote reflects the idea that throughout our lives, we undergo a continuous transformation, revealing parts of ourselves that we may not have previously acknowledged. The phrase 'to live is to be slowly born' emphasizes that each experience contributes to our growth and understanding, enabling us to discover new aspects of our identity that were previously hidden or unknown.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal growth.
Grown-ups love figures... When you tell them you've made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? " Instead they demand "How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? " Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.
Attitude is a paintbrush. It colors everything!
Water, thou hast no taste, no color, no odor; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself, thou fillest us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses.
In those days, I didn't understand anything. I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words. She perfumed my planet and lit up my life. I should never have run away! I ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions. Flowers are so contadictory! But I was too young to know how to love her.
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.
When the body sinks into death, the essence of man is revealed. Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter. The body is an old crock that nobody will miss. I have never known a man to think of himself when dying. Never.
life is a loaded gun that looks right at you with a yellow eye.
We are all born idolaters, and idolatry is good, because it is in the nature of man. Who can get beyond it? Only the perfect man, the God-man. The rest are all idolaters. So long as we see this universe before us, with its forms and shapes, we are all idolaters. This is a gigantic symbol we are worshipping. He who says he is the body is a born idolater.
Human beings cannot be willed and molded into non-existence.
History calls those men the greatest who have ennobled themselves by working for the common good; experience acclaims as happiest the man who has made the greatest number of people happy.
That was Thorin's style. He was an important dwarf. If he had been allowed, he would probably have gone on like this until he was out of breath, without telling anyone there anything that was not known already. But he was rudely interrupted.
If there's good, strong evidence from science that such and such is the case and this is contrary to Buddhism, then we will change.
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