Everybody must be managed. Queens must be managed. Kings must be managed, for men want managing almost as much as women, and that's saying a good deal.
Thomas HardyRead
Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Success may come from contradictions and adaptability rather than strict adherence to principles.
This quote suggests that flexibility and the ability to navigate contradictions can be more effective for achieving success than rigidly following set principles. Thomas Hardy draws a parallel with the British Constitution, indicating that the ability to adapt and change, even if it leads to inconsistencies, can be crucial for practical success in various endeavors.
Themes
SuccessPrincipleInconsistencyAdaptabilityFlexibility
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of success in business, this quote can highlight the importance of adaptability.
More from Thomas Hardy
All quotes βBecause what's the use of learning that I am one of a long row only - finding out that there is set down in some old book somebody just like me, and to know that I shall only act her part; making me sad, that's all. The best is not to remember your nature and your past doings have been just like thousands' and thousands', and that your coming life and doings'll be like thousands' and thousands'.
Thomas HardyRead
But nothing is more insidious than the evolution of wishes from mere fancies, and of wants from mere wishes.
Thomas HardyRead
I wish I had never been born--there or anywhere else.
Thomas HardyRead
Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess's being; it enveloped her as a photosphere, irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past sorrows, keeping back the gloomy spectres that would persist in their attempts to touch herβdoubt, fear, moodiness, care, shame. She knew that they were waiting like wolves just outside the circumscribing light, but she had long spells of power to keep them in hungry subjection there.
Thomas HardyRead
The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven't they? -that is, seem as if they had. And the river says,-'Why do ye trouble me with your looks?' And you seem to see numbers of to-morrows just all in a line, the first of them the biggest and clearest, the others getting smaller and smaller as they stand further away; but they all seem very fierce and cruel and as if they said, 'I'm coming! Beware of me! Beware of me!
Thomas HardyRead
Similar quotes
Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
The flesh endures the storms of the present alone; the mind, those of the past and future as well as the present. Gluttony is a lust of the mind.
Thomas HobbesRead
You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
The thing about being autistic is that you gradually get less and less autistic, because you keep learning, you keep learning how to behave. It's like being in a play; I'm always in a play.
Temple GrandinRead
The human soul has sojourned in lower and higher forms, migrating from one to another according to the samskaras or impressions, but it is only in the highest form as a human being that it attains to freedom.
Swami VivekanandaRead
[T]he delegation of the government, in [a republic], to a small number of citizens elected by the rest . . . [is] to refine and enlarge the public views by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations.
James MadisonRead