To be wise and eke to love,_x000D_ _x000D_ Is granted scarce to gods above.
Interpretation
True wisdom and the ability to love are rare gifts, often associated with divinity.
In this quote, Edmund Spenser reflects on the rarity of possessing both wisdom and love, suggesting that these qualities are so profound that they are typically reserved for the divine. The statement highlights the idea that while knowledge can be acquired, the combination of wisdom with an empathetic capacity for love elevates an individual, reflecting traits that mere mortals struggle to achieve.
In practice
In a graduation speech to inspire students about the values of life.
But O the exceeding grace_x000D_ Of highest God, that loves his creatures so,_x000D_ And all his works with mercy doth embrace,_x000D_ That blessed angels, he sends to and fro,_x000D_ To serve to wicked man, to serve his wicked foe.
The noblest mind the best contentment has
What though the sea with waves continuall Doe eate the earth, it is no more at all ; Ne is the earth the lesse, or loseth ought : For whatsoever from one place doth fall Is with the tyde unto another brought : For there is nothing lost, that may be found if sought.
No daintie flowre or herbe that growes on grownd, No arborett with painted blossoms drest And smelling sweete, but there it might be fownd To bud out faire, and throwe her sweete smels al arownd.
I hate the day, because it lendeth light_x000D_ _x000D_ To see all things, but not my love to see.
For of the soule the bodie forme doth take; _x000D_ For the soule is forme, and doth the bodie make.
The hard discipline, with the exception of one great good point, is fraught with evil. The good point is that men can do one or two things well with very little effort, having practiced them every day through generations.
When your desires drop, the world is there, but it is a totally new world. It is so fresh, it is so colorful, it is so beautiful! But a mind attached to things cannot see it because eyes are closed with attachment.
Well-being and happiness never appeared to me as an absolute aim. I am even inclined to compare such moral aims to the ambitions of a pig.
Bring the mind into sharp focus and make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere. The mind must be emancipated from old habits, prejudices, restrictive thought processes and even ordinary thought itself.
For life: it is rather a determination not to be overwhelmed. For work: the truth can only be recalled, never invented.
A spirit of thankfulness is one of the most distinctive marks of a Christian whose heart is attuned to the Lord. Thank God in the midst of trials and every persecution.
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