The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young.
Phillips BrooksRead
Character - Some day, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long-continued process.
Interpretation
Character is shaped by our ongoing struggles, not just by our responses to major crises.
This quote emphasizes that true character is forged through the daily challenges and quiet struggles we face rather than only in moments of great temptation or sorrow. It suggests that the foundational experiences and choices made during ordinary times prepare us for the significant trials of life, determining whether we will triumph or falter when confronted with them.
In practice
In a motivational speech about resilience, one might say, 'Remember, as Phillips Brooks stated, the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks.'
The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young.
We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.
To believe in the God over us and around us and not in the God within us - that would be a powerless and fruitless faith.
To say, 'well done' to any bit of good work is to take hold of the powers which have made the effort and strengthen them beyond our knowledge.
Think of life as a voyage. The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.
Progress without the reasoned freedom to think and act is regression to slavery.
I think when money starts to corrupt journalism, it undermines the journalism, and it undermines the credibility of the product, and you end up not succeeding.
What I believe in my heart must make sense in my mind.
Many of her thoughts were perfect syllogisms; unluckily they always remained thoughts. Only a few were irrational assumptions; but, unfortunately, they were the ones which most frequently grew into deeds
There is no need to invent an ego that is separate from the divine if our basic human nature is trusted. If we trust ourselves, we know how to avoid interfering with nature and how to live in harmony. When we know God as an unseen, loving, and accepting power at the heart of everything, allowing us to make our own choices, then God is a trusted part of our nature.
There is no real evil in life, except great pain; all the rest is imaginary, and depends on the light in which we view things
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