It's the quality of your relationships that matters.
Robert J. WaldingerRead
Being human means there's a wall-builder in each of us. Our minds naturally divide the world into me and not-me, us and them. For thousands of years, our sages have taught that we're all one, yet we still divide wherever we look.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that as humans, we have a tendency to categorize ourselves against others, despite teachings of unity.
Robert J. Waldinger's quote highlights the intrinsic human inclination to create boundaries between ourselves and others, leading to division. It reflects a paradox where, despite the wisdom imparted by sages throughout history about the fundamental unity of all people, our minds continue to create distinctions of identity and belonging based on personal or group affiliations.
Themes
HumanityUnityDivisionIdentityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a community meeting to emphasize the importance of inclusivity.
More from Robert J. Waldinger
All quotes →The good life is built with good relationships.
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It's not just the number of friends you have, and it's not whether or not you're in a committed relationship. It's the quality of your close relationships that matters.
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It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they're physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected.
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People who are more isolated than they want to be from others find that they are less happy, their health declines earlier in midlife, their brain functioning declines sooner, and they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely.
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Most of what we know about human life we know from asking people to remember the past, and as we know, hindsight is anything but 20/20. We forget vast amounts of what happens to us in life, and sometimes memory is downright creative.
Robert J. WaldingerRead
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