Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure.
Interpretation
Success can lead us to complacency, preventing further growth, while failure teaches us valuable lessons.
This quote by Kenneth E. Boulding suggests that achievement may create a false sense of confidence that hinders further learning and development. In contrast, it is through failure that we truly gain insights and understanding, allowing us to improve and advance in our endeavors. Success can make us less reflective, while failures encourage contemplation and adaptation.
In practice
In a motivational speech about resilience, one could say this quote to emphasize the importance of learning from setbacks.
As long as man was small in numbers and limited in technology, he could realistically regard the earth as an infinite reservoir, an infinite source of inputs and an infinite cesspool for outputs. Today we can no longer make this assumption. Earth has become a space ship, not only in our imagination but also in the hard realities of the social, biological, and physical system in which man is enmeshed.
Economics has been incurably growth-oriented and addicted to everybody growing richer, even at the cost of exhaustion of resources and pollution of the environment.
Mathematics brought rigor to Economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis.
Are we to regard the world of nature simply as a storehouse to be robbed for the immediate benefit of man? ... Does man have any responsibility for the preservation of a decent balance in nature, for the preservation of rare species, or even for the indefinite continuance of his race?
Appreciation has become my destiny in life. Perhaps it's the instinct of a polar bear enjoying hibernation in the vast snows.
I think everyone makes a mistake at least once in their life. The important thing is what you learn from it. That's why I have problems with our Pashtunwali code. We are supposed to take revenge for wrongs done to us, but where does that end? If a man in one family is killed or hurt by another man, revenge must be exacted to restore nang (honor).
When our memories outweigh our dreams, it is then that we become old.
I feel it's the conscious mind that messes things up. The conscious mind is constantly telling you, this might happen or that might happen, even before it has happened. Your conscious mind tells you the next ball might be a out-swinger, but when it's coming at you you realize it's an in-swinger... so literally, you've played two balls.
To be wise and eke to love,_x000D_ _x000D_ Is granted scarce to gods above.
In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel "burnout" setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective.
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