I tried to think of my knowledge, but it was a squirrel's heap of winter nuts. There was no strength in my knowledge any more and I felt small and naked as a new-hatched bird.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
It is hard to put aside partisanship. It is hard to give up the easy wisecracking jeer that divides and destroys. It is hard - very hard - to have worked sincerely and wholeheartedly for a cause and to have lost. Most of all, it is hard to put aside personal prejudices. And yet we must put these things aside.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the difficulty of overcoming biases and divisions in the pursuit of a collective good.
Stephen Vincent Benet reflects on the challenges faced in transcending partisanship, personal biases, and the emotional toll of defeat. He acknowledges the instinctual tendency to resort to ridicule and division, highlighting that while such attitudes may feel justified, they ultimately hinder progress and understanding. The call to set aside these divisive elements is a plea for unity and a commitment to a higher purpose.
Themes
PartisanshipBiasUnityPrejudiceSincerity
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate to encourage mutual understanding among opposing views.
More from Stephen Vincent Benet
All quotes βGrant us brotherhood, not only for this day but for all our years - a brotherhood not of words but of acts and deeds.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
It is forbidden to go east, but I have gone, forbidden to go on the great river, but I am there. Open your hearts, you spirits, and hear my song.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
Our fathers and ourselves sowed dragon's teeth. Our children know and suffer the armed men.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
You can't depend on the kind of folks people think they are - you've got to go by what they do. And I wouldn't give much for a man that some folks hadn't thought was a fool, in his time.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
Go play with the towns you have built of blocks, The towns where you would have bound me! I sleep in my earth like a tired fox, And my bufdfalo have found me.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
Similar quotes
We are, quite literally, gambling with the future of our planet- for the sake of hamburgers
Peter SingerRead
I began to get a feeling familiar to me from my bartending days of being the only sane man in a nuthouse. It doesn't make you feel superior but depressed and scared, because there is nobody you can contact.
William S. BurroughsRead
There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
We have to keep company with supposedly bad characters if we are to survive and not succumb to mental atrophy. People of good character, so called, are the ones who end up boring us to death.
Thomas BernhardRead
Well-spent aid money is saving lives for a few thousand dollars per life saved.
Bill GatesRead
When you look at traditions closely, examine what they really are, you realize they're made up of layers and layers of deferrals, delays, indecisions, tomorrows and long lunches.
A. A. GillRead