Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summoned away, to leave without regret.
Robert E. LeeRead
It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means conform to our wishes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
It suggests that it's simpler to adjust our desires to fit our realities than to change our circumstances to fulfill our desires.
This quote by Robert E. Lee reflects the practicality of human nature and the challenges we face in life. It highlights the tendency for people to adapt their ambitions and wishes to the resources and situations available to them, rather than striving to alter those circumstances to achieve their ideals. This wisdom promotes a more realistic approach to life, encouraging individuals to find contentment and purpose within their current limitations rather than constantly yearning for unattainable desires.
Themes
WishesMeansAdaptationPracticalityRealism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be referenced during a motivational speech about financial planning.
More from Robert E. Lee
All quotes βLife Insurance trusts I consider sacred. To hazard the property of the dead & to lose the scanty earnings of fathers & husbands, who have toiled & saved that they may leave something to their families deprived of their care & the support of their labour, is to my mind the worst of crimes.
Robert E. LeeRead
So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that Slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interest of the South. So fully am I satisfied of this that I would have cheerfully lost all that I have lost by the war, and have suffered all that I have suffered to have this object attained.
Robert E. LeeRead
Our country demands all our strength, all our energies. To resist the powerful combination now forming against us will require every man at his place. If victorious, we will have everything to hope for in the future. If defeated, nothing will be left for us to live for.
Robert E. LeeRead
With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relative, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the Army.
Robert E. LeeRead
Lee tells his troops. After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.
Robert E. LeeRead
Similar quotes
Gratefulness for what is there is one of the most powerful tools for creating what is not yet there. What does gratefulness mean? It means you appreciate what is. You value, you give attention to, you honor whatever is here at this moment.
Eckhart TolleRead
A timid dog barks more violently than it bites. Curtius Canis timidus vehementius latrat quam mordet
Quintus Curtius RufusRead
Maturity starts with the willingness to give oneself.
Elisabeth ElliotRead
I am amazed to see how deliberately I have entangled myself step by step. To have seen my position so clearly, and yet to have acted so like a child!
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear.
George MacdonaldRead
The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellencies, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it.
Rene DescartesRead