The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of.
Interpretation
Sometimes, a bit of foolishness can provide necessary insight or relief in challenging situations.
This quote suggests that life can present us with unexpected difficulties, and occasionally, engaging in a little folly—acting in a way that may seem foolish—can actually offer us the clarity or relief needed to navigate those challenges. It highlights the complexity of human experiences where conventional wisdom might not always be the best guide.
In practice
In a motivational speech about embracing creativity and unconventional thinking.
The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.
To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
The most unhappy people in the world are those who face the days without knowing what to do with their time. But if you have more projects than you have time for, you are not going to be an unhappy person. This is as much a question of having imagination and curiosity as it is of actually making plans.
History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
When you think about growing and being empowered yourself, it is what you've been able to do for other people that leaves you the fullest.
The fool sees naught but folly; and the madman only madness. Yesterday I asked a foolish man to count the fools among us. He laughed and said, "This is too hard a thing to do, and it will take too long. Were it not better to count only the wise?"
Every vocation becomes more agreeable when united with devotion.
If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there's room to hear more subtle things - that's when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It's a discipline; you have to practice it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.