No illusion is more crucial than the illusion that great success and huge money buy you immunity from the common ills of mankind, such as cars that won't start.
Interpretation
Success and wealth do not protect you from everyday problems.
This quote highlights the misconception that achieving great success and wealth provides immunity from the ordinary struggles of life. It serves as a reminder that regardless of one's accomplishments or financial status, everyone still faces common challenges and inconveniences, emphasizing the shared human experience.
In practice
During a motivational speech about the reality of success.
You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analagous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination. Hold the philosophy, hold the adjectives, just give us a plain subject and verb and perhaps a wholesome, nonfattening adverb or two.
-she remembered them kindly, for there was a sweetness in boys that didn't last long, once they became men.
I still have my first paycheck. It was just, I think, a dollar or two that I got when I started as a songwriter with BMI, and I had some songs there that I had through the company, and in the mail I got this big old check for, like, a dollar and a half or something. Somebody had recorded one of my songs.
The best thing I ever did was when I was offered a million dollars to go play in South Africa and didn't take it. I was 21 years old, and part of it was like, 'Well, if they're offering me this obscene amount of money just to play one match, there must be something really wrong.'
There's this little box that African-American actors have to work in, in the first place, and I was able to rise above that box. I could have done a bunch of movies where I stayed as the Axel Foley or Reggie Hammond persona. But I didn't want to be doing the same thing all the time. Every now and then, you crash and burn, but that's part of it.
Success is a result of consistent practice of winning skills and actions. There is nothing miraculous about the process. There is no luck involved.
I don't regret any of the places I went in football. Everything gave me an experience or memories that I'll have forever. We had more success in San Francisco, but it was a great time everywhere. I always had fun.
When I was younger, I felt pressure to become someone else once I became successful.
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