Rassemblons des faits pour nous donner des idées._x000D_ _x000D_ Let us gather facts in order to get ourselves thinking.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte De BuffonRead
The human mind cannot create anything. It produces nothing until having been fertilized by experience and meditation; its acquisitions are the germs of its production.
Interpretation
The mind relies on experiences and contemplation to create new ideas and knowledge.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte De Buffon, emphasizes the idea that the human mind is not a void from which creativity springs forth independently; rather, it requires the nurturing of experience and deep thought. Just as a seed needs fertile soil to grow, our thoughts and innovations are contingent upon the knowledge and experiences we have accumulated throughout our lives.
In practice
During a motivational speech about the importance of learning from life experiences.
A man watches his pear-tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap.
When you expect the world to end at any moment, you know there is no need to hurry. You take your time, you do your work well.
Every single choice we make, no matter how small, is the ground where who we are meets what is in the world. And the fruits of that essential relationship- the intimate, fertile conversation between our own heart's wisdom and the way the world has emerged before us- becomes a lifelong practice of deep and sacred listening for the next right thing we are required to do. We make the only choice that feels authentic and honest, necessary and true in that moment.
Don’t be vain because you happen to have talent. You are not responsible for that; it was not of your doing. What you do with your talent is what matters.
Hence intellect[ual perception] is both a beginning and an end, for the demonstrations arise from these, and concern them. As a result, one ought to pay attention to the undemonstrated assertions and opinions of experienced and older people, or of the prudent, no less than to demonstrations, for, because the have an experienced eye, they see correctly.
The most beautiful motion is that which accomplishes the greatest results with the least amount of effort.
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