Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.
Wilhelm Von HumboldtRead
Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take with us.
Interpretation
Our character and actions define what we carry forward in life beyond material possessions.
This quote emphasizes the importance of our character and moral integrity over material wealth. It suggests that the essence of who we are and the values we cultivate during our lifetime are the true treasures that accompany us in our journey beyond this world. Ultimately, it is the virtues and experiences that shape our character that will endure, rather than any physical belongings we accumulate.
In practice
During a graduation speech to emphasize the importance of personal growth over grades.
Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.
Wherever the citizen becomes indifferent to his fellows, so will the husband be to his wife, and the father of a family toward the members of his household.
Joy mingled with sadness, even with grief, is the deepest human joy. It winds itself about the soul with indescribable sweetness, with a dim but unerring sense for what will some day be born of it.
All situations in which the interrelationships between extremes are involved are the most interesting and instructive.
It is an absolutely vain endeavor to attempt to reconstruct or even comprehend the nature of a human being by simply knowing the forces which have acted upon him. However deeply we should like to penetrate, however close we seem to be drawing to truth, one unknown quantity eludes us: man's primordial energy, his original self, that personality which was given him with the gift of life itself. On it rests man's true freedom; it alone determines his real character.
The government is best which makes itself unnecessary.
The Art of War is self-explanatory
Birds rising in flight is a sign that the enemy is lying in ambush; when the wild animals are startled and flee he is trying to take you unaware.
...I would like to live a little bit longer in this beautiful concentration camp.
Ask yourself these two questions: Do I remember at every moment that I am dying, and that everyone and everything else is, and so treat all beings at all times with compassion? Has my understanding of death and impermanence become so keen and so urgent that I am devoting every second to the pursuit of enlightenment? If you can answer "yes" to both of these, then you really understand impermanence.
On the basis of the eternal will of God we have to think of EVERY HUMAN BEING, even the oddest, most villainous or miserable, as one to whom Jesus Christ is Brother and God is Father; and we have to deal with him on this assumption. If the other person knows that already, then we have to strengthen him in the knowledge. If he does no know it yet or no longer knows it, our business is to transmit this knowledge to him.
Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. (quoting the Bhagavad-Gita after witnessing the first Nuclear explosion.)
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