It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth (In Vino Veritas).
Pliny The ElderRead
The only certainty is that nothing is certain.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the inherent unpredictability of life and the idea that nothing is guaranteed.
Pliny The Elder's quote reminds us that while we may seek stability and certainty in our lives, the reality is that unpredictability is the only constant. Embracing this uncertainty can lead us to a deeper understanding of life and help us to navigate its challenges with resilience and adaptability.
In practice
During a lecture on the unpredictability of life, one might quote Pliny The Elder to emphasize the importance of adaptability.
It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth (In Vino Veritas).
Such is the audacity of man, that he hath learned to counterfeit Nature, yea, and is so bold as to challenge her in her work.
The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.
It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.
Of all wonders, this is among the greatest, that some fresh waters close by the sea spring forth as out of pipes: for the nature of the waters also ceaseth not from miraculous properties.
How innocent, how happy, how truly delightful, even, would life be if we were to desire nothing but what is to be found upon the face of the earth: in a word, nothing but what is provided ready to our hands!
Your numbness is something perhaps you cannot help. It is what the world has done to you. But your coldness. That is what you do to the world.
The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.
A man must ride alternately on the horses of his private and his public nature.
Only through the conscious action of the working masses in city and country can it be brought to life, only through the people's highest intellectual maturity and inexhaustible idealism can it be brought safely through all storms and find its way to port.
It was when I realised I had a new nationality: I was in exile. I am an adulterous resident: when I am in one city, I am dreaming of the other. I am an exile; citizen of the country of longing.
The masses have no habit of self-reliance or original action.
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