Never promise more than you can perform.
Publilius SyrusRead
In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.
Interpretation
In arguments, emotions can cloud our judgment and obscure reality.
This quote by Publilius Syrus serves as a reminder that during intense discussions or disputes, our passion and emotions can easily distract us from understanding and acknowledging the actual facts or truth of the matter. It highlights the importance of maintaining a clear perspective and rational thinking when engaging in disagreements.
In practice
Using this quote in a debate to emphasize the importance of staying rational.
Never promise more than you can perform.
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.
Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.
What a tragedy is help where it harms what it supports!
The miser is as much in want of what he has as of what he has not.
He who lives only for himself is truly dead to others.
When examining evidence relevant to a given belief, people are inclined to see what they expect to see, and conclude what they expect to conclude. Information that is consistent with our pre-existing beliefs is often accepted at face value, whereas evidence that contradicts them is critically scrutinized and discounted. Our beliefs may thus be less responsive than they should to the implications of new information
One always has exaggerated ideas about what one doesn't know.
Duty - that which sternly impels us in the direction of profit, along the line of desire.
We are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming.
Do you know my friend that each one of us is a dark mystery, a maze of conflicting passions and desire and aptitudes?
The very ritual practices that the New Atheists dismiss as costly, inefficient and irrational turn out to be a solution to one of the hardest problems humans face: cooperation without kinship
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