One makes mistakes; that is life. But it is never a mistake to have loved.
Romain RollandRead
The greatest human ideal is the great cause of bringing together the thoughts of Europe and Asia; the great soul of India will topple our world.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of unity and collaboration between cultures, specifically Europe and Asia, highlighting India's influential spirit.
Romain Rolland reflects on the significant potential that arises from bridging Eastern and Western cultures, suggesting that the wisdom and spirit of India can lead to profound transformations in the world. This unity of thoughts between Europe and Asia is portrayed as a noble ideal, where the essence of India's great soul could inspire and elevate humanity.
In practice
In a speech about cultural diplomacy, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of collaboration.
One makes mistakes; that is life. But it is never a mistake to have loved.
Discussion is impossible with someone who claims not to seek the truth, but already to possess it.
I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so.
Skepticism, riddling the faith of yesterday, prepared the way for the faith of tomorrow.
Each man must learn his own ideal and try to accomplish it: that is a surer way of progress than to take the ideas of another.
The true Vedantic spirit does not start out with a system of preconceived ideas. It possesses absolute liberty and unrivalled courage among religions with regard to the facts to be observed and the diverse hypotheses it has laid down for their coordination. Never having been hampered by a priestly order, each man has been entirely free to search wherever he pleased for the spiritual explanation of the spectacle of the universe.
Oh, I don't think religion has failed. It's man who has failed. Christ hasn't failed. The Gospel hasn't failed. The teachings of God have not failed.
To regard the fundamental as the essence, to regard things as coarse, to regard accumulation as deficiency, and to dwell quietly alone with the spiritual and the intelligent - herein lie the techniques of Tao of the ancients.
Christmas is God lighting a candle; and you don't light a candle in a room that's already full of sunlight. You light a candle in a room that's so murky that the candle, when lit, reveals just how bad things really are.
If we possessed a thorough knowledge of all the parts of the seed of any animal (e.g. man), we could from that alone, be reasons entirely mathematical and certain, deduce the whole conformation and figure of each of its members, and, conversely if we knew several peculiarities of this conformation, we would from those deduce the nature of its seed.
Use justice to rule a country. Use surprise to wage war. Use non-action to govern the world.
The older I grow and the more I abandon myself to God's will, the less I value intelligence that wants to know and will that wants to do; and as the only element of salvation I recognize faith, which can wait patiently, without asking too many questions.
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