What is the essence of theosophy? It is the fact that man, being himself divine, can know the divinity whose life he shares. As an inevitable corollary to this supreme truth comes the fact of the brotherhood of man.
Annie BesantRead
No durable things are built on violent passion. Nature grows her plants in silence and in darkness, and only when they have become strong do they put their heads above the ground.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Enduring achievements require patience and quiet growth rather than impulsive actions.
Annie Besant emphasizes that lasting creations are not born from rash emotions but instead from a process of nurturing and development that often occurs away from the spotlight. Just as nature takes its time to grow plants silently beneath the soil, true strength and success emerge gradually and require a foundation built with care and resilience.
Themes
PatienceGrowthStrengthWisdomNature
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal development, one might use the quote to highlight the importance of patience in achieving goals.
More from Annie Besant
All quotes →Death consists, indeed, in a repeated process of unrobing, or unsheathing. The immortal part of man shakes off from itself, one after the other, its outer casings, and - as the snake from its skin, the butterfly from its chrysalis - emerges from one after another, passing into a higher state of consciousness.
Annie BesantRead
Let Indian history be set side by side with Europe history with what there is of the latter century by century and let us see whether India need blush at the comparison.
Annie BesantRead
My own life in India, since I came to it in 1893 to make it my home, has been devoted to one purpose, to give back to India her ancient freedom.
Annie BesantRead
Knowledge is essential to conquest; only according to our ignorance are we helpless. Thought creates character. Character can dominate conditions. Will creates circumstances and environment.
Annie BesantRead
Matter is, in its constituent elements, the same as spirit; existence is one, however manifold in its phenomena; life is one, however multiform in its evolution.
Annie BesantRead
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Can anything be more disgusting than to hear people called 'educated' making small jokes about eating ham, and showing themselves empty of any real knowledge as to the relation of their own social and religious life to the history of the people they think themselves witty in insulting? [...] The best thing that can be said of it is, that it is a sign of the intellectual narrowness—in plain English, the stupidity which is still the average mark of our culture.
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The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness.
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As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.
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It seems to me that, in every culture, I come across a chapter headed 'Wisdom.' And then I know exactly what is going to follow: 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'
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