Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.
Jules RenardRead
When the defects of others are perceived with so much clarity, it is because one possesses them oneself.
Interpretation
Recognizing flaws in others often reveals our own imperfections.
This quote suggests that our ability to see the shortcomings in others with clarity may stem from our own shared experiences or flaws. When we judge others critically, it often reflects our inner struggles, indicating that we may wrestle with the same issues we observe in them, thereby urging us to engage in self-reflection before pointing fingers.
In practice
In a discussion about personal growth, this quote can illustrate the importance of self-awareness.
Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.
If one were to build the house of happiness, the largest space would be the waiting room.
When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness.
It doesn't pay to say too much when you are mad enough to choke. For the word that stings the deepest is the word that is never spoke, Let the other fellow wrangle till the storm has blown away, then he'll do a heap of thinking about the things you didn't say.
Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none
I have no religion,β says Borneau, βbut I respect the religion of others. Religion is sacred.β Why this privilege, this immunity?... A believer creates God in his own image; if he is ugly, his God will be morally ugly. Why should moral ugliness be respectable?
The most important thing is insight, that is to be - curious - to wonder, to mull, and to muse why it is that man does what he does.
I am slow to learn and slow to forget that which I have learned. My mind is like a piece of steel, very hard to scratch any thing on it and almost impossible after you get it there to rub it out.
People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities.
So in this case, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering' - then you should abandon them.
The reporter wrote with the hope that he would get a by-line in the Times, a testimony to his being alive on that day and all the tomorrows of microfilm
We all make mistakes, we all have fears, and we all have weaknesses. Behind all that is our essential self. When our essential self has made contact with another, the light is dazzling and would fill the universe. The challenge of enchantment is to remain faithful to that light, to believe in it when it is not so apparent. Then that light becomes an incandescent glow and it wraps itself around everything.
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