An extravagance is something that your spirit thinks is a necessity.
Bernard WilliamsRead
If we try and fail, we have temporary disappointments. But if we do not try at all, we have permanent regrets.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Trying encourages growth, while inaction leads to lasting regrets.
This quote emphasizes the importance of taking action and trying, even if there is a chance of failure. It suggests that the temporary setbacks we may face when attempting something new are far less severe than the lifelong regrets that come from not trying at all, encouraging a proactive approach to life's challenges.
Themes
RegretActionFailureMotivationGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech to encourage students to pursue their dreams.
More from Bernard Williams
All quotes βThere was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.
Bernard WilliamsRead
Contemporary moral philosophy has found an original way of being boring, which is by not discussing moral issues at all.
Bernard WilliamsRead
The majority of philosophers are totally humorless. That's part of their trouble.
Bernard WilliamsRead
People have been predicting the death of philosophy since the 17th century. When I was a student, people were saying, 'We're in the last days of philosophy.' Then we were told in the '60s it would be replaced by sociology, then by literary criticism.
Bernard WilliamsRead
Virtually the only subject in which one could ever get a scholarship to Oxford or Cambridge was classics. So I went to Oxford to study classics and, unlike Cambridge, it had a philosophy component, and I became completely transported by it.
Bernard WilliamsRead
Similar quotes
Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.
Og MandinoRead
Ninety to ninety-five percent of people will withdraw to the comfort zone when what they try doesn't work. Only that small percentage, 5 or 10 percent, will continually improve themselves; they will continually push themselves out into the zone of discomfort, and these are always the highest performers in every field.
Brian TracyRead
Regardless of your past, your tomorrow is a clean slate.
Zig ZiglarRead
I've wanted to be a writer since I was a boy, though it seemed an unlikely outcome since I showed no real talent. But I persevered and eventually found my own row to hoe. Ignorance of other writers' work keeps me from discouragement and I am less well-read than the average bus driver.
Garrison KeillorRead
The greatest failure is the failure to try.
William Arthur WardRead
Your own positive future begins in this moment. All you have is right now. Every goal is possible from here.
LaoziRead