If two lives join, there is oft a scar. They are one and one, with a shadowy third; One near one is too far.
Robert BrowningRead
I show you doubt, to prove that faith exists.
Interpretation
Doubt and faith are intertwined; questioning beliefs can strengthen them.
This quote suggests that experiencing doubt is a necessary part of understanding and appreciating faith. It implies that the presence of uncertainty highlights the value of belief, as one cannot truly appreciate faith without having faced moments of doubt.
In practice
In a discussion about religious beliefs, one might reference this quote to illustrate how doubt can strengthen one's faith.
If two lives join, there is oft a scar. They are one and one, with a shadowy third; One near one is too far.
Tis Man's to explore up and down, inch by inch, with the taper his reason.
I think, am sure, a brother's love exceeds_x000D_ _x000D_ All the world's loves in its unworldliness.
I dare not so honor my mere wishes and prayers as to put them for a moment beside your noble acts; but this know, I would rather submit to the worst of deaths, so far as pain goes, than have a single dog or cat tortured on the pretence of sparing me a twinge or two.
How well I know what I mean to do When the long dark Autumn evenings come, And where, my soul, is thy pleasant hue? With the music of all thy voices, dumb In lifeβs November too! I shall be found by the fire, suppose, Oβer a great wise book as beseemeth age, While the shutters flap as the cross-wind blows, And I turn the page, and I turn the page, Not verse now, only prose!
How good is life, the mere living!
I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?
We do not know what really good or bad fortune is.
Idiots are always in favour of inequality of income (their only chance of eminence), and the really great in favour of equality.
Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. There may be legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not... with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
Certainly the determining acts of her life were not ideally beautiful. They were the mixed result of young and novel impulse struggling amidst the conditions of an imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion.
Everything in life depends on how that life accepts its limits.
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