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It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

We often undervalue the contributions of others while overvaluing our own successes.

This quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer highlights the tendency of individuals to focus excessively on their personal accomplishments, neglecting the roles and support provided by others in their journey. It serves as a reminder to recognize and appreciate the interdependence of achievements, where collective efforts often play a crucial role in individual success.

Themes

AchievementsInterdependenceGratitudeHumility

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech to emphasize teamwork in the workplace.

More from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A home is a kingdom of it's own in the midst of the world, a stronghold amid life's storms and stresses, a refuge, even a sanctuary.
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In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.
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Sometimes we just need a firm kick in the pants. An unsmiling expectation that if we mean all these wonderful things we talk about and sing about, then let’s see something to prove it.
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It is God's earth out of which man is taken. From it he has his body. His body belongs to his essential being. Man's body is not his prison, his shell his exterior, but man himself. Man does not "have" a body; he does not "have" a soul; rather he "is" body and soul. Man in the beginning is really his body. He is one. He is his body, as Christ is completely his body, as the Church is the body of Christ
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...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.
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Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.
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