I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.
Abraham LincolnRead
Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought
Interpretation
True freedom involves responsibility, emphasizing that our actions should align with moral and ethical obligations.
This quote by Abraham Lincoln expresses the idea that freedom is not merely about indulging in our desires and whims, but rather about understanding and fulfilling our responsibilities towards others and society. It challenges the notion of freedom as a limitless license to act without consideration, instead highlighting that true liberty comes with the conscious choice to do what is right and necessary.
In practice
In a debate about civil liberties, to emphasize the importance of responsible action.
I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then is due to the soldier.
And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.
A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility.
Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed . . . I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
My dreams are a stupid refuge, like an umbrella against a thunderbolt.
My brother died when he was 19, so a part of me indulges and thinks that some part of him that made him uniquely him is out there, on another plane. So inventing the fictional afterlife in 'Sing, Unburied, Sing' was a way of making that wish real.
The realm of consciousness is much vaster than thought can grasp. When you no longer believe everything you think, you step out of thought and see clearly that the thinker is not who you are.
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