A vigorous temper is not altogether an evil. Men who are easy as an old shoe are generally of little worth.
Interpretation
Having a strong temper can be beneficial, as it often signifies passion and strength, unlike those who lack vigor and drive.
This quote emphasizes that a strong, vigorous temperament is not inherently negative; rather, it can indicate an individual's passion and intensity. The author suggests that those who are excessively complacent or passive ('easy as an old shoe') may lack the qualities necessary for substantial worth or contribution, implying that vitality and assertiveness are essential for meaningful engagement in life.
In practice
During a motivational speech about embracing one's emotions.
Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.
When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honor to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle.
It is far easier to fight with sin in public than to pray against it in private.
You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.
After faith comes repentance, or, rather, repentance is faith's twin brother and is born at the same time.
["All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful.
It was shepherds who were the first to recognize a king that the rest of the world refused to acknowledge.
What we spend our time on is probably the most important decision we make.
Perhaps some day I'll crawl back home, beaten, defeated. But not as long as I can make stories out of my heartbreak, beauty out of sorrow.
The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.
Sit, then, as if you were a mountain, with all the unshakeable, steadfast majesty of a mountain. A mountain is completely natural and at ease with itself, however strong the winds that try to bother it, however thick the dark clouds that swirl around its peak. Sitting like a mountain, let your mind rise and fly and soar
The wavering mind is but a base possession.
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