Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stagecoach.
Interpretation
Society's mistakes and foolish behaviors spread more quickly now than in the past.
Oliver Goldsmith reflects on the rapid pace at which negative influences and foolishness circulate in society compared to his own time. He observes that while past follies took time to permeate, today they spread swiftly, suggesting a critique of modernity and the changes in social dynamics.
In practice
During a speech on the impact of social media, one could use this quote to emphasize how quickly misinformation spreads today.
Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.
A mind too vigorous and active, serves only to consume the body to which it is joined.
Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
Whatever the skill of any country may be in the sciences, it is from its excellence in polite learning alone that it must expect a character from posterity.
Life at the greatest and best is but a froward child, that must be humored and coaxed a little till it falls asleep, and then all the care is over.
Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,_x000D_ _x000D_ Adorns and cheers our way;_x000D_ _x000D_ And still, as darker grows the night,_x000D_ _x000D_ Emits a brighter ray.
We believe it is comprehensive international sanctions against the white regime that will save us from the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of South Africans, black and white.
In India, at the community level, young men are playing an absolutely essential role in changing the cultural norms and deeply held practices concerning women. They are doing this in a way that not only empowers women and girls, but really empowers the young men as well.
The insistence on complete certainty about the full details of global warming-the most serious threat we have ever faced-is actually an effort to avoid facing the awful, uncomfortable truth: that we must act boldly, decisively, comprehensively, and quickly, even before we know every last detail about the crisis. Those who continue to argue that the appropriate response is merely additional research are simply seeking to camouflage timidity or protect their vested interest in the status quo.
True transformation only comes from sustainable strategies.
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
I have seen periods of progress followed by reaction. I have seen the hopes and aspirations of Negroes rise during World War II, only to be smashed during the Eisenhower years. I am seeing the victories of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations destroyed by Richard Nixon.
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