The search for truth is more precious than its possession.
Gotthold Ephraim LessingRead
Why should not every individual man have existed more than once upon this world? Why should I not come back as often as I am capable of acquiring fresh knowledge? Is this hypothesis so laughable merely because it is the oldest? Because the human understanding, before the sophistries of the schools had dissipated and debilitated it, lighted upon it at once?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the possibility of reincarnation and the pursuit of knowledge throughout multiple lifetimes.
In this quote, Lessing contemplates the notion of reincarnation and suggests that individuals could benefit from multiple existences where they can continually acquire new knowledge. He questions the validity of dismissing this idea simply because it is ancient, advocating for an open-minded approach to understanding the human experience and its potential for growth across different lifetimes.
Themes
ReincarnationKnowledgeUnderstandingPhilosophyGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on personal growth, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of continuous learning.
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Pleasures, riches, honor and joy are sure to have care, disgrace, adversity and affliction in their train. There is no pleasure without pain, no joy without sorrow. O the folly of expecting lasting felicity in a vale of tears, or a paradise in a ruined world.
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Would that we could at once paint with the eyes! In the long way from the eye through the arm to the pencil, how much is lost!
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It is not the truth that a man possesses, or believes that he possesses, but the earnest effort which he puts forward to reach the truth, which constitutes the worth of a man
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