When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun by nettles.
Horace WalpoleRead
By deafness one gains in one respect more than one loses; one misses more nonsense than sense.
Interpretation
Being deaf allows one to avoid hearing unnecessary noise and nonsense.
This quote by Horace Walpole suggests that while being deaf means losing the ability to hear, it also provides a unique benefit: the avoidance of much of the trivial and nonsensical chatter that fills conversations. In essence, it presents a perspective that highlights the value of selective awareness and the peace found in disengaging from superfluous noise.
In practice
In a speech about mental wellbeing, one could say, 'As Horace Walpole insightfully remarked, by deafness one gains more by avoiding the incessant noise of nonsense around us.'
When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun by nettles.
Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
We often repent of our first thoughts, and scarce ever of our second.
Who has begun has half done. Have the courage to be wise. Begin!
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform - They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.
The passions seldom give good advice but to the interested and mercenary. Resentment generally suggests bad measures. Second thoughts and good nature will rarely, very rarely, approve the first hints of anger.
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Big money is not a good thing for a little soul: it will only ensnare his feet, and he will fall to his ruin. Wealth is safe only for those who have a wealth of wisdom.
When the rhythms of our body-mind are in synch with nature's rhythms, when we are living in harmony with life, we are living in the state of grace. To live in grace is to experience that state of consciousness where things flow effortlessly and our desires are easily fulfilled. Grace is magical, synchronistic, coincidental, joyful. It's that good-luck factor. But to live in grace we have to allow nature's intelligence to flow through us without interfering.
The way we respond to criticism pretty much depends on the way we respond to praise. If praise humbles us, then criticism will build us up. But if praise inflates us, then criticism will crush us; and both responses lead to our defeat.
In temptations against chastity, the spiritual masters advise us, not so much to contend with the bad thought, as to turn the mind to some spiritual, or, at least, indifferent object. It is useful to combat other bad thoughts face to face, but not thoughts of impurity.
It took me forty years of dealing with buddhism to finally realize that actually Buddha's discovery was happiness and bliss.
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