That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
Paul ValeryRead
Two dangers constantly threaten the world: order and disorder.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the delicate balance between structure and chaos in the world.
Paul Valery's quote suggests that both order and disorder pose significant threats to society. It implies that while order can lead to rigidity and oppression, disorder can breed chaos and instability, indicating a profound philosophical insight into the nature of balance in human existence and governance.
Themes
OrderDisorderBalanceSocietyChaos
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting about future strategies, this quote can remind colleagues of the importance of balance.
More from Paul Valery
All quotes βOh, hasten not this loving act, Rapture where self and not-self meet: My life has been the awaiting you, Your footfall was my own heart's beat.
Paul ValeryRead
The history of thought may be summed up in these words: it is absurd by what it seeks and great by what it finds.
Paul ValeryRead
The world acquires value only through its extremes and endures only through moderation; extremists make the world great, the moderates give it stability.
Paul ValeryRead
It would be impossible to "love" anyone or anything one knew completely. Love is directed towards what lies hidden in its object.
Paul ValeryRead
You have certainly observed the curious fact that a given word which is perfectly clear when you hear it or use it in everyday language, and which does not give rise to any difficulty when it is engaged in the rapid movement of an ordinary sentence becomes magically embarrassing, introduces a strange resistance, frustrates any effort at definition as soon as you take it out of circulation to examine it separately and look for its meaning after taking away its instantaneous function.
Paul ValeryRead
Similar quotes
We have a tendency to condemn people who are different from us, to define their sins as paramount and our own sinfulness as being insignificant.
Jimmy CarterRead
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
If eternity had a season, it would be midsummer. Autumn, winter, spring are all change and passage, but at the height of summer the year stands poised. It's only a passing moment, but even as it passes the heart knows it cannot change.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
All that money can do is buy us some one else's work in exchange for our own.
Henry FordRead
They can romanticize us so, mirrors, and that is their secret: what a subtle torture it would be to destroy all the mirrors in the world: where then could we look for reassurerance of our identities? I tell you, my dear, Narcissus was so egotist...he was merely another of us who, in our unshatterable isolation, recognized, on seeing his reflection, the beautiful comrade, the only inseparatable love...poor Narcissus, possibly the only human who was ever honest on this point.
Truman CapoteRead
Six is a number perfect in itself, and not because God created the world in six days; rather the contrary is true. God created the world in six days because this number is perfect, and it would remain perfect, even if the work of the six days did not exist.
Saint AugustineRead