I learned: the first lesson of my life: nobody can face the world with his eyes open all the time.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the importance of accepting that one cannot always be fully aware or vigilant in life.
In this quote, Salman Rushdie reflects on the human experience and the limitations inherent in facing reality. He suggests that being constantly alert and aware is not feasible, implying that there are moments when one must let go, close their eyes, or disengage from the harsh realities of life. This serves as a reminder to find balance between awareness and acceptance, as well as to acknowledge the necessity of rest and introspection.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about personal growth and resilience.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
Language creates reality. Words have power. Speak always to create joy.
Throw away my book: you must understand that it represents only one of a thousand attitudes. You must find your own. If someone else could have done something as well as you, don’t do it. If someone else could have said something as well as you, don’t say it—or written something as well as you, don’t write it. Grow fond only of that which you can find nowhere but in yourself, and create out of yourself, impatiently or patiently, ah! that most irreplaceable of beings.
We should reward people, not ridicule them, for thinking the impossible.
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.
How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live 'em.
Be aware that what you think, to a large extent, creates the emotions that you feel. See the link between your thinking and your emotions. Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.
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