The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Gratitude is a useless word. You will find it in a dictionary but not in life.
Interpretation
Gratitude may be recognized in theory but is often absent in practice.
This quote emphasizes the idea that while the concept of gratitude exists and is acknowledged in language, it is frequently overlooked or neglected in everyday life. The author suggests that simply knowing about gratitude is not enough; it must be genuinely practiced and felt to hold true significance.
In practice
During a speech on personal growth, one might quote this to highlight the importance of appreciating life's moments.
The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.
To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
The more you know, the more unflinchingly you deny casual beliefs and Accepted Wisdom when it flies in the face of reality, the more carefully you observe the world and its people around you, the better chance you have of writing something meaningful and well-crafted.
Here comes the orator with his flood of words and his drop of reason.
Now in reality, the world has paid too great a compliment to critics, and has imagined them to be men of much greater profundity than they really are.
See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little.
Ambition! We must be careful what we mean by it. If it means the desire to get ahead of other people - which is what I think it does mean - then it is bad. If it means simply wanting to do a thing well, then it is good. It isn't wrong for an actor to want to act his part as well as it can possibly be acted, but the wish to have his name in bigger type than the other actors is a bad one.
You may as well quit reading and hearing the Word of God, and give it to the devil, if you do not desire to live according to it.
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