Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
Grown-up people do not know that a child can give exceedingly good advice even in the most difficult case.
Interpretation
Children can often provide surprisingly insightful advice, even to adults facing complex challenges.
This quote emphasizes the value of perspective, suggesting that wisdom is not solely confined to age or experience. It highlights the idea that children, with their fresh and uninhibited viewpoints, can offer meaningful insights that may elude adults, reminding us to remain open to learning from others, regardless of their age or status.
In practice
In a discussion about problem-solving during a team meeting.
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
What if, when this fog scatters and flies upward, the whole rotten, slimey city goes with it, rises with the fog and vanishes like smoke.
Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled.
Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.
But do you understand, I cry to him, do you understand that if you have the guillotine in the forefront, and with such glee, it's for the sole reason that cutting heads off is the easiest thing, and having an idea is difficult!
...to return to their 'native soil,' as they say, to the bosom, so to speak, of their mother earth, like frightened children, yearning to fall asleep on the withered bosom of their decrepit mother, and to sleep there for ever, only to escape the horrors that terrify them.
The work is the work. The work is not me.
You can never know everything, and part of what you know is always wrong. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway.
No man was ever great by imitation.
It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.
Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.
Every man hath the right to doubt his task, and to forsake it from time to time; but what he must not do is forget it. Whoever doubteth not himself is unworthy -for in his unquestioning belief in his ability, he commiteth the sin of pride. Blessed are they who go through moments of indecision.
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