It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.
Interpretation
Engaging in life's challenges is more valuable than being a passive observer.
This quote emphasizes the importance of taking risks and actively participating in life's endeavors, regardless of the potential for failure or difficulty. It suggests that facing challenges head-on is a more honorable and enriching experience than remaining a safe distance away, where one misses the opportunity to grow and learn from real-life experiences.
In practice
This quote can inspire individuals during a motivational speech about embracing challenges.
Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn't write, a painter who doesn't paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.
It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior's life.
The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.
When we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen... Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.
You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study... Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I'll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.
Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
I saw them with my bodily eyes as clearly as I see you. And when they departed, I used to weep and wish they would take me with them.
The biggest problem that women have is being ambivalent about their own power, ... We should be comfortable with the idea of wielding power. We shouldn't feel that it detracts from our femininity.
Those who do nothing are inviting shame as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality.
Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
Our nation was built and civilized by men and women who used guns in self-defense and in pursuit of peace. One wonders indeed, if the rising crime rate, isn't due as much as anything to the criminal's instinctive knowledge that the average victim no longer has means of self-protection.
We are Craiglockhart's success stories. Look at us. We don't remember, we don't feel, we don't think - at least beyond the confines of what's needed to do the job. By any proper civilized standard (but what does that mean now?) we are objects of horror. But our nerves are completely steady. And we are still alive.
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