If you send up a weather vane or put your thumb up in the air every time you want to do something different, to find out what people are going to think about it, you're going to limit yourself. That's a very strange way to live.
Jessye NormanRead
I am grateful that my horizons were not narrowed at the outset.
Interpretation
This quote expresses appreciation for the openness to experiences and opportunities early in life.
Jessye Norman's quote highlights the importance of having a broad perspective and being open to various possibilities from the beginning. By being grateful that her horizons were not limited, she underscores the value of embracing life's complexities and diversities, which fosters growth and understanding.
In practice
This quote can be used in a graduation speech to encourage students to embrace the opportunities ahead of them.
If you send up a weather vane or put your thumb up in the air every time you want to do something different, to find out what people are going to think about it, you're going to limit yourself. That's a very strange way to live.
My parents said to us, practically on a daily basis, that we were as good as anyone else on this earth, and that we would simply have to work harder in order to show that.
Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself.
As for my voice, it cannot be categorised - and I like it that way, because I sing things that would be considered in the dramatic, mezzo or spinto range.
It is still more likely that a woman's power would be seen as aggression, and a man's power would be seen as assertion.
I love singing jazz. I don't like the idea that classical music should be over here and jazz should be someplace else. It's all wonderful, and we should be open to enjoying it all.
At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment.
I felt deep within me that the highest point a man can attain is not Knowledge or Virtue or Goodness or Victory but something even greater, more heroic and more despairing: Sacred Awe!
My grandmother always told me that regardless of what the world gives you, stay humble. Stay strong in your beliefs, and be honest. And when you're wrong, be a man and say you're wrong. And be strong when you're right.
There is no satisfying the senses, not even with a shower of money. "The senses are of slight pleasure and really suffering." When a wise man has realised this, he takes no pleasure, as a disciple of the Buddhas, even in the pleasures of heaven. Instead he takes pleasure in the elimination of craving.
I'm at my strongest when I'm able to let go, when I suspend my beliefs as well as disbeliefs, and leave myself open to all possibilities. That also seems to be when I'm able to experience the most internal clarity and synchronicities.
As from a large heap of flowers many garlands and wreaths are made, so by a mortal in this life there is much good work to be done.
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