It is with rivers as it is with people: the greatest are not always the most agreeable nor the best to live with.
Henry Van DykeRead
As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that following the same habits and routines may prevent personal growth and self-discovery.
Henry Van Dyke's quote emphasizes the importance of breaking free from habitual living to allow for personal evolution and deeper understanding of oneself. By adhering strictly to routine, we limit our experiences and hinder the potential for new insights and transformative moments that can enrich our lives. It invites individuals to seek novelty and embrace change to fully access the complexities of their inner selves.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
It is with rivers as it is with people: the greatest are not always the most agreeable nor the best to live with.
Let me but find it in my heart to say, When vagrant wishes beckon me astray, "This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; Of all who live, I am the one by whom This work can best be done in the right way."
And you will remember that love is not getting, but giving; not a wild dream of pleasure, and a madness of desire β oh no, love is not that β it is goodness, and honour, and peace, and pure living β yes, love is that; and it is the best thing in the world, and the thing that lives longest.
Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air; And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair; And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome; But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.
No amount of energy will take the place of thought. A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.
A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war.
We must, therefore, be here as strangers and pilgrims, that we may plainly declare that we seek a city above.
I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal--as we are!
Worshiping someone means...placing that person outside of our world. We are not worshiping anyone or anything, we are simply communing with Creation.
There is nothing good or evil save in the will.
Life is very, very simple and easy to understand, but we complicate it with the beliefs and ideas that we create.
It never got weird enough for me.
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