Man makes holy what he believes as he makes beautiful what he loves.
Interpretation
Our beliefs and loves shape our perceptions of holiness and beauty.
This quote by Ernest Renan suggests that individuals have the power to transform their beliefs and passions into sacredness and aesthetic appreciation. It emphasizes the idea that what we hold dear—what we love and believe—defines our understanding of holiness, infusing the mundane with meaning and beauty through our subjective experiences and perspectives.
In practice
In a speech on personal values, one might use this quote to illustrate how our beliefs shape our realities.
None of the miracles with which ancient histories are filled, occurred under scientific conditions. Observation never once contradicted, teaches us that miracles occur only in periods and countries in which they are believed in and before persons disposed to believe in them.
Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation.
When people complain of life, it is almost always because they have asked impossible things of it.
He whom God has touched will always be a being apart: he is, whatever he may do, a stranger among men; he is marked by a sign.
Let us remember that sorrow alone is the creator of great things.
The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true.
That's why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.
We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
Chess holds deep wisdoms of the people. It is truly an image of life, the reflection of human fate that has shown us the earthly way of suffering in darkness and permanent shortage of time. Like in chess, we encounter all kinds of traps, mistakes, settlements, sacrifices, kings, and queens, doubled pawns, and extraordinary moves while we are on the board ourselves.
What a strange thing man is; and what a stranger thing woman.
Through Gandhi and my own life experience, I have learned about nonviolence. I believe that human life is a very special gift from God, and that no one has a right to take that away in any cause, however just. I am convinced that nonviolence is more powerful than violence.
It is customary to complain of the bustle and strenuousness of our epoch. But in truth the chief mark of our epoch is a profound laziness and fatigue; and the fact is that the real laziness is the cause of the apparent bustle.
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