For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the idea of embarking on new endeavors without relying on conventional methods or knowledge.
Christopher Columbus's statement highlights the spirit of exploration and the willingness to pursue one's dreams despite the lack of traditional tools or guidance. It emphasizes the importance of courage and determination in venturing into the unknown and achieving one's goals, suggesting that success often requires stepping outside of established boundaries and trusting one's instincts.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage students to pursue their dreams.
Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth and justice! I did not come on this voyage for gain, honor or wealth, that is certain; for then the hope of all such things was dead. I came to Your Highnesses with honest purpose and sincere zeal; and I do not lie. I humbly beseech Your Highnesses that, if it please God to remove me hence, you will help me to go to Rome and on other pilgrimages.
I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone.
Sailed this day nineteen leagues, and determined to count less than the true number, that the crew might not be dismayed if the voyage should prove long.
And then she thought that you went on living one day after another, and in time you were somebody else, your previous self only like a close relative, a sister or brother, with whom you shared a past. But a different person, a separate life. Certainly neither she nor Inman were the people they had been the last time they were together. And she believed maybe she liked them both better now.
What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass; it is almost exactly 13 years since the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of the agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, paving the way for Northern Ireland to become the exciting and inspirational place that it is today.
The whole fabric of southern society must be changed, and never can it be done if this opportunity is lost. Without this, this government can never be, as it never has been, a true republic.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
You cannot be the person they know and the great, glorious person you want to become. Not at the same time.
The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.
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