Hug the shore; let others try the deep.
VirgilRead
Confidence cannot find a place wherein to rest in safety.
Interpretation
Confidence is inherently unstable and cannot find comfort in permanence.
This quote by Virgil suggests that confidence is a transient state that thrives on uncertainty and challenges. It implies that true confidence is not about seeking a safe harbor but about embracing the risks and complexities of life, as it cannot settle indefinitely in a place of certainty or comfort without eventually facing new trials and doubts.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming fears, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of embracing uncertainty.
Hug the shore; let others try the deep.
Even virtue is fairer when it appears in a beautiful person.
Happy the man who has been able to learn the causes of things.
Endure the present, and watch for better things.
Come what may, all bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance.
Fear is proof of a degenerate mind.
A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude.
One of the most persistent ambiguities that we face is that everybody talks about peace as a goal. However, it does not take sharpest-eyed sophistication to discern that while everbody talks about peace, peace has become practically nobody's business among the power-wielders. Many men cry Peace! Peace! but they refuse to do the things that make for peace.
We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation.
Night is beautiful when you are happy--comforting when you are in grief--terrible when you are lonely and unhappy.
Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire.
We tend to defend vigorously things that in our deepest hearts we are not quite certain about. If we are certain of something we know, it doesn't need defending.
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