Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Andre GideRead
It is good to follow one's own bent, so long as it leads upward.
Interpretation
Pursue your passions and instincts, but ensure they contribute to your personal growth.
Andre Gide's quote emphasizes the importance of following your natural inclinations and interests, as long as they guide you toward self-improvement and higher aspirations. It suggests that personal fulfillment should align with a positive trajectory in life, encouraging individuals to seek out passions that uplift them rather than lead them astray.
In practice
A mentor might use this quote to encourage a young person to pursue their true interests in education.
Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Do not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.
Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.
Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
No one wants to hear everything that's in your head. They just want you to live up to what comes out of your mouth.
Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.
Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.
Sometimes I'm more stubborn than I am smart.
Plans are worthless, but planning is invaluable.
Doverey, no proverey - Trust but verify.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.