What I'd like is to meet a man I could take off my hat to and say: "Thank you for having got born, and the longer you live the better.
Maxim GorkyRead
If it is true that only misfortune can awaken a man's soul, it is a bitter truth, one that is hard to hear and accept, and it is only natural that many people deny it and say it is better for a man to live on in a trance than to wake up to torture.
Interpretation
Misfortune can lead to self-awareness and growth, though it is a painful truth.
This quote by Maxim Gorky reflects on the nature of suffering and enlightenment, suggesting that often it is through adversity that individuals become truly aware of their own existence and deeper emotional truths. While acknowledging the difficulty of this experience, it critiques the tendency to avoid pain, implying that ignorance may offer temporary comfort but denies one the authentic experience of life.
In practice
During a motivational speech about resilience, this quote can emphasize the importance of facing challenges.
What I'd like is to meet a man I could take off my hat to and say: "Thank you for having got born, and the longer you live the better.
A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a bad man must have brains.
To speak the truth is the most difficult of all arts, for in its "pure" form, not connected with the interests of individuals, groups, classes, or nations, truth is almost completely unsuitable for use by the Philistine and is unacceptable to him.
Be good, be kind, be humane, and charitable; love your fellows; console the afflicted; pardon those who have done you wrong.
Truth doesn't always heal a wounded soul.
Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.
Our Lord humbled without humiliation His lofty station which yet could not be humbled, and condescends to His servants, with a condescension ineffable and incomprehensible. God being perfect becomes perfect man, and brings to perfection the newest of all new things (cf. Eccles 1:10), the only new thing under the sun, through which the boundless might of God is manifested. For what greater thing is there than that God should become man?
A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.
Sunday is the core of our civilization, dedicated to thought and reverence.
What then in the last resort are the truths of mankind? They are the irrefutable errors of mankind.
I keep wanting to crawl back into the womb.
Be Charitable before wealth make thee covetous, and loose not the glory of the Mite.
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