Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.
Interpretation
Democracy relies on the belief that everyday individuals possess remarkable potential.
This quote emphasizes the foundational idea of democracy that ordinary individuals are capable of achieving greatness and making meaningful contributions to society. It suggests that a democratic society thrives when it recognizes and nurtures the inherent potential found within all people, rather than placing value solely on exceptional individuals or elites. The conviction in the extraordinary abilities of the common person is what fuels collective progress and empowerment.
In practice
In discussions about social equity, this quote can remind us to invest in community empowerment.
Nothing else matters much...not wealth, nor learning, nor even health...without this gift: the spiritual capacity to keep zest in living. This is the creed of creeds, the final deposit and distillation of all important faiths: that you should be able to believe in life.
No one can get inner peace by pouncing on it, by vigorously willing to have it ... Peace is a consciousness of springs too deep for earthly droughts to dry up. Peace is the gift not of volitional struggle but of spiritual hospitality.
I renounce war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatred it arouses, for the dictatorships it puts in place of democracy, for the starvation that stalks after it. I renounce war, and never again, directly or indirectly, will I sanction or support another.
He who cannot rest, cannot work; he who cannot let go, cannot hold on; he who cannot find footing, cannot go forward.
No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
Nothing in this world is more inspiring than a soul up against crippling circumstances who carries it off with courage and faith and undefeated character-nothing! See Light From Many Lamps, edited by L. E. Watson, article by H. E. Fosdick, pp. 93-94 re: a serious cripple who succeeded.
The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.
Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone.
Do not delay in coming to grace, but hasten, lest the robber outstrip you, lest the adulterer pass you by, lest the insatiate be satisfied before you, lest the murderer seize the blessing first, or the publican or the fornicator, or any of these violent ones who take the Kingdom of heaven by force (cf. Mt. 11:12). For it suffers violence willingly, and is tyrannized over through goodness.
Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.
Gossip says she hanged herself from the turret on the tower, but when you have a house like Hill House with a tower and a turret, gossip would hardly allow you to hang yourself anywhere else.
I have done for my country, and for all mankind, all that I could do, and I now resign my soul, without fear, to my God - my daughter to my country.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.