Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
Woodrow WilsonRead
Caution is the confidential agent of selfishness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Caution can often serve as a cover for selfish motives.
This quote suggests that being overly cautious can sometimes reflect an individual's selfishness, where the desire to protect one's own interests overrides the willingness to take risks or act benevolently. It implies that excessive caution may prevent one from considering the well-being of others, instead focusing solely on personal gain. Essentially, it challenges us to reflect on the underlying motivations behind our cautious behavior and to consider whether it stems from a self-centered viewpoint.
Themes
CautionSelfishnessWisdomRiskBehavior
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech on personal development.
More from Woodrow Wilson
All quotes →Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused.
Woodrow WilsonRead
The history of liberty is the history of limitations on the power of government, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of power, we are resisting the processes of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties.
Woodrow WilsonRead
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers.
Woodrow WilsonRead
The way to stop financial joyriding is to arrest the chauffeur, not the automobile.
Woodrow WilsonRead
Once lead this people into war, and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street.
Woodrow WilsonRead
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