QuoteProject
It is important that man dreams, but it is perhaps equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams.
Lin Yutang
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Dreams are essential for aspiration, but self-awareness and humor about them are equally important.

This quote emphasizes the significance of having dreams and aspirations in life while also highlighting the importance of maintaining a sense of humor about those dreams. It suggests that dreaming is a vital part of the human experience, but the ability to laugh at our ambitions reflects a healthy perspective that can lead to greater wisdom and resilience.

Themes

DreamsHumorSelf-AwarenessAspirationLife

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech about pursuing goals, one could use this quote to remind the audience about the value of humor in their journey.

More from Lin Yutang

Reality - Dreams = Animal Being Reality + Dreams = A Heart-Ache (usually called Idealism) Reality + Humor = Realism (also called Conservatism) Dreams - Humor = Fanaticism Dreams + Humor = Fantasy Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom
Lin YutangRead
True peace of mind comes from accepting the worst. Psychologically, I think it means a release of energy.
Lin YutangRead
All women's dresses, in every age and country, are merely variations on the eternal struggle between the admitted desire to dress and the unadmitted desire to undress.
Lin YutangRead
This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought.
Lin YutangRead
If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.
Lin YutangRead
It is that unoccupied space which makes a room habitable, as it is our leisure hours which make life endurable.
Lin YutangRead

Similar quotes

I am growing more and more aware that all too often we preachers aim at nothing and hit it.
Peter MarshallRead
Good temper, like a sunny day, sheds a ray of brightness over everything; it is the sweetener of toil and the soother of disquietude!
Washington IrvingRead
Writing is my way of diving deep into an issue. My approach is to watch, read and listen - sometimes for years - in order to grasp the dynamics, resistance and patterns of thought that repeat and impede progress and breakthrough.
Paul HawkenRead
Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recaptured at will.
Charles BaudelaireRead
We all admire great accomplishments in the sciences, arts, and humanities - but we rarely acknowledge how much we achieve in the course of our everyday lives.
Marvin MinskyRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.