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
What this quote means
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.
Themes
GrowthPassionSelf-ImprovementAspirationFulfillment
In practice
Example use cases
A mentor might use this quote to encourage a young person to pursue their true interests in education.
More from Andre Gide
All quotes βDo 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.
Andre GideRead
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.
Andre GideRead
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.
Andre GideRead
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
Andre GideRead
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
Andre GideRead
Similar quotes
The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.
Winston ChurchillRead
We judge of man's wisdom by his hope.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
One must train oneself, by small and frequent efforts, to dominate one's feelings.
Alexis CarrelRead
It is remarkable how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it.
Henry David ThoreauRead
By playing at Chess then, we may learn: First: Foresight... Second: Circumspection... Third: Caution...And lastly, we learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering in the secrets of resources
Benjamin FranklinRead
One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.
ChanakyaRead