The first thing to do in life is to do with purpose what one purposes to do.
Interpretation
One must act with intention and clarity to achieve their goals.
This quote by Pablo Casals emphasizes the importance of living with purpose and intentionality. It suggests that before taking any actions in life, individuals should define their goals clearly and pursue them with dedication and commitment. By doing so, people can navigate their lives more effectively and meaningfully, making sure every step they take aligns with their aspirations.
In practice
During a motivational speech about pursuing dreams.
Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it in the most perfect way.
In music, in the sea, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness... I see what people call God in all these things.
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.
I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life.
To the whole world you might be just one person, but to one person you might just be the whole world.
I'm incapable of describing the feeling with which I left. I wouldn't want it ever to be repeated, but I would have considered myself unfortunate if I'd never experienced it.
How many on their deathbeds wished they'd spent more time at the office - or watching TV? The answer is, No one.
The lesson, I suppose, is that none of us have much control over how we will be remembered. Every life is an amalgam, and it is impossible to know what moments, what foibles, what charms will come to define us once we're gone. All we can do is live our lives fully, be authentically ourselves and trust that the right things about us, the best and most fitting things, will echo in the memories of us that endure.
I can have everything I love at the same time. I can have my family, I can have my friends, and I can have my quiet life, which I also like. I can have my football, and I can have everything together, and I don't need to give up one to be better than what I am.
She realized that being starved for words was the same as being starved for food, because both left a hollow place inside you, a place you needed filled to make it through another day. Rachel remembered how growing up sheβd thought living on a farm with just a father was as lonely as you could be. (130)
Everything was usual. That was depression: being stuck, clinging to an out-of-date version of oneself.
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