It's a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people. You can hold your tongue, and, moreover, you can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they don't see or care.
Interpretation
Abstaining from drinking allows for greater self-control and social perception among heavy drinkers.
This quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the advantages of maintaining sobriety in social situations dominated by alcohol consumption. By not participating in drinking, an individual can observe others and manage their own behavior more effectively, avoiding scrutiny and potential judgment while gaining a unique perspective on the dynamics of social interactions influenced by intoxication.
In practice
During a discussion about lifestyle choices at a party.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
There's small Revenge in Words, but Words may be greatly revenged
Once you have accepted yourself, it's so much easier to accept other people and their points of view.
As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.
Don't fall into the trap of studying the Bible without doing what it says.
What you put your attention on grows strong in your life.
When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises. You become more conscious of what's around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.