Every start on an untrodden path is a venture which only in unusual circumstances looks sensible and likely to succeed.
Interpretation
Taking new paths can often seem risky and uncertain, but it is necessary for growth and adventure.
This quote by Albert Schweitzer suggests that embarking on new and unexplored journeys often defies conventional wisdom and appears impractical at first. However, it is through these daring ventures that one can discover new possibilities and achieve personal growth, despite the inherent risks involved.
In practice
During a motivational speech about pursuing dreams in education.
I do not want to frighten you by telling you about the temptations life will bring. Anyone who is healthy in spirit will overcome them. But there is something I want you to realize. It does not matter so much what you do. What matters is whether your soul is harmed by what you do. If your soul is harmed, something irreparable happens, the extent of which you won't realize until it will be too late.
Within every patient there resides a doctor, and we as physicians are at our best when we we put our patients in touch with the doctor inside themselves.
By ethical conduct toward all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe.
No one can give a definition of the soul. But we know what it feels like. The soul is the sense of something higher than ourselves, something that stirs in us thoughts, hopes, and aspirations which go out to the world of goodness, truth and beauty. The soul is a burning desire to breathe in this world of light and never to lose it--to remain children of light.
The mistake made by all previous systems of ethics has been the failure to recognize that life as such is the mysterious value with which they have to deal. All spiritual life meets us within natural life. Reverence for life, therefore, is applied to natural life and spiritual life alike. In the parable of Jesus, the shepherd saves not merely the soul of the lost sheep but the whole animal. The stronger the reverence for natural life, the stronger grows also that for spiritual life.
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
The fixed determination to have acquired the warrior soul, to either conquer or perish with honor, is the secret of victory.
Slaves do not always welcome their deliverers. They become accustomed to being slaves. They would rather gear those ills they have
I can't run away when I'm scared. I always have to attack. That's how I deal with seemingly difficult things.
Every argument for Negro suffrage is an argument for women's suffrage.
Naming things, breaking through taboos and denial is the most dangerous, terrifying, and crucial work. This has to happen in spite of political climates or coercions, in spite of careers being won or lost, in spite of the fear of being criticized, outcast, or disliked. I believe freedom begins with naming things. Humanity is preserved by it.
If your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi and nonviolence. But if your enemy has no conscience like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer.
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