How seldom we weigh our neighbor in the same balance with ourselves.
Thomas A KempisRead
Who has a harder fight than he who is striving to overcome himself.
Interpretation
The toughest battles are often the ones we fight within ourselves as we seek personal improvement.
This quote by Thomas A Kempis highlights the internal struggles that individuals face when striving for self-improvement. Overcoming personal limitations, fears, and failures requires significant effort and courage, making it one of the hardest challenges anyone can undertake. It implies that self-mastery is more difficult than external conflicts, emphasizing the importance of inner strength and resilience in the pursuit of personal growth.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal development.
How seldom we weigh our neighbor in the same balance with ourselves.
He will easily be content and at peace, whose conscience is pure.
Trust not to your feelings for whatever they might be now, they will quickly be changed towards some other thing.
Jesus has many who love the kingdom of God, but few who bear a cross. He has many who desire His comfort, but few who desire His suffering. All want to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for Him. He writes; there are many who admire his miracles, but there are few who follow in the humiliation of the cross.
Anyone who thinks hard work will never hurt you has never had to pay to have it done. Jesus now has many lovers of his Heavenly Kingdom, but few bearers of his cross.
He has great tranquillity of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by word can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God.
The purpose of life is undoubtedly to know oneself. We cannot do it unless we learn to identify ourselves with all that lives. The sum-total of that life is God.
People hear 'Africa' and they think about charitable commercials, or safari tours and animals. It's our responsibility to help change that perspective.
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death supplies brings out the tender colours of life in all their purity.
In America, a black man has to feel like he's God just to make it a little bit when white people can just feel human. They can just be themselves, but for me, I feel we have to start instilling that back into our people. That pride. That black power. That privilege to be alive.
In early Islam, it was an absolute tenet that the prophet was not to be worshipped. The prophet was a messenger. And one of the things that's happened in Islam is this cult of the prophet, which to my view is counter to the original tradition.
For our purposes as human beings, the mind is the center of everything.
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