But I like not these great successes of yours; for I know how jealous are the gods.
Interpretation
Success can breed jealousy and scrutiny, especially from higher powers or society.
This quote reflects the idea that great successes come with their own set of challenges, particularly in the form of jealousy. The speaker, likely contemplating the nature of success, suggests that such achievements can draw the envy of others, including the gods, resulting in complications and pressures that may not be immediately apparent to those who experience them.
In practice
During a motivational speech about the pitfalls of success.
The Scythians take kannabis seed, creep in under the felts, and throw it on the red-hot stones. It smolders and sends up such billows of steam-smoke that no Greek vapor bath can surpass it. The Scythians howl with joy in these vapor-baths, which serve them instead of bathing, for they never wash their bodies with water.
The man who has planned badly, if fortune is on his side, may have had a stroke of luck; but his plan was a bad one nonetheless.
Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
The worst pain a man can have is to know much and be impotent to act.
All men's gains are the fruit of venturing.
Acts that proceed from your calm center are always more effective than acts that proceed from fear, guilt, or anger.
Whatever final judgment awaits 'Bush v. Gore' in the annals of history, I am certain that the good work and good faith of the U.S. federal judiciary as a whole will continue to sustain public confidence at a level never beyond repair.
Who could be so lucky? Who comes to a lake for water and sees the reflection of moon.
If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.
The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with.
There is no slavery but ignorance.
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