The cleverly expressed opposite of any generally accepted idea is worth a fortune to somebody.
Interpretation
Challenging widely accepted ideas can lead to valuable insights and opportunities.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote highlights the importance of questioning and opposing conventional wisdom. It suggests that the ability to articulate counterarguments or alternative perspectives can be extremely valuable, potentially yielding great rewards for those who can successfully navigate and challenge the status quo.
In practice
In a debate about climate change, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of alternative perspectives.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
O unfathomable depth! O Deity eternal! O deep ocean! What more could You give me than to give me Yourself?
Look for the second right answer.
Blessed be his name, who hath appointed the quiet night to follow the busy day, and the calm sleep to refresh the wearied limbs and to compose the troubled spirit.
No one likes having offended another person; hence everyone feels so much better if the other person doesn't show he's been offended. Nobody likes being confronted by a wounded spaniel. Remember that. It is much easier patiently - and tolerantly - to avoid the person you have injured than to approach him as a friend. You need courage for that.
Abundance is scooped from abundance yet abundance remains.
In order to acquire intellect one must need it. One loses it when it is no longer necessary.
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