If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?
Interpretation
The quote suggests that letting small things upset you reflects inner weaknesses or insecurities.
This quote by Sydney J. Harris encourages self-reflection on our emotional reactions. It implies that if trivial matters can provoke significant anger, it brings attention to one's personal vulnerabilities, suggesting that the real issue lies within rather than in external circumstances. Instead of blaming the minor irritations in life, one should examine themselves and their responses to better understand their character and growth potential.
In practice
During a team meeting to discuss workplace challenges.
A person is either himself or not himself; is either rooted in his existence or is a fabrication; has either found his humanhood or is still playing with masks and roles and status symbols. And nobody is more aware of this difference (although unconsciously) than a child. Only an authentic person can evoke a good response in the core of the other person; only person is resonant to person.
We evaluate others with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with a Godlike compassion.
The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes them a mother - which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician.
Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.
"Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong, and we glorify it.
At it's highest level, the purpose of teaching is not to teach—it is to inspire the desire for learning. Once a student's mind is set on fire, it will find a way to provide its own fuel.
Physically robust infrastructure is not enough if it fails to foster a healthy community; ultimately, all infrastructure is social.
The unity of the bourgeoisie can be shaken only by the unity of the proletariat.
I was a man of the earth, precisely as I had dreamed I would be.
…gender is not sane. It's not sane to call a rainbow black and white.
In the final analysis, the whole cause of world revolution hinges on the revolutionary struggles of the Asian, African and Latin American people who make up the overwhelming majority of the world's population.
Truly there is a tide in the affairs of men; but there is no gulf-stream setting forever in one direction.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.