Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaRead
It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult.
Interpretation
Our reluctance to take risks makes challenges seem harder than they are.
This quote by Seneca highlights the concept that our fears prevent us from attempting difficult tasks. It suggests that if we are courageous and willing to take the first step, we can often find that challenges are more manageable than they appear, implying that the act of venturing forth is what makes tasks seem less daunting.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage students to take risks in their careers.
Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.
The things hardest to bear are sweetest to remember.
A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.
True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.
A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.
When you learn about the teaching and the practice of another tradition, you always have a chance to understand your own teaching and practice.
Don't sit as if you have nothing to say. You should be bursting with things to say. You just choose at this particular place and time, not to say them.
I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless.
Nothing is lost upon a man who is bent upon growth; nothing wasted on one who is always preparing for - life by keeping eyes, mind and heart open to nature, men, books, experience - and what he gathers serves him at unexpected moments in unforeseen ways.
The most valuable things in life are priceless. They are courage, compassion, wisdom, respect for ourselves and others, and a host of characteristics that we call the beauty of the human spirit.
When we are at our wits' end for an answer, then the Holy Spirit can give us an answer. But how can He give us an answer when we are still well supplied with all sorts of answers of our own?
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