Put least trust in him who is foremost to praise you, nor judge of a road till it draw to the end.
Interpretation
Be cautious of those who overly praise you, and be patient in assessing a situation until it concludes.
This quote advises us to be wary of flattery and suggests that those who praise us the most might not always have our best interests at heart. Additionally, it encourages a reflective approach to lifeβs journeys, emphasizing the importance of waiting until an experience reaches its conclusion before making judgments about it.
In practice
During a motivational speech about the importance of discernment in relationships.
It is heroic to prepare for war with a tyrant power. Patriots will always win the admiration of mankind for daring to meet the bloodshed of battle for their country's liberty. But the patriot who is willing to go to that sacrifice will be the first to condemn the aimless and secret shedding of blood in time of peace.
For all time to come, the freedom and purity of the press are the test of national virtue and independence. No writer for the press, however humble, is free from the burden of keeping his purpose high and his integrity white.
And we who have toiled for freedom's law, have we sought for freedom's soul? Have we learned at last that human right is not a part but the whole?
It put our energies to sleep and made visionaries of us - dreamers and indolent... It is good to begin life poor; it is good to begin life rich - these are wholesome; but to begin it prospectively rich! The man who has not experienced it cannot imagine the curse of it.
A problem is solved not by confronting it directly, but by going to a level where no problem exists.
Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.
Measure a person by what they do with power.
"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before," Bokonon tells us. "He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."
Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation- in fairy tales, in analysis, and in individuation. The key question causes germination of consciousness. The properly shaped question always emanates from an essential curiosity about what stands behind. Questions are the keys that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.
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