A man must thank his defects, and stand in some terror of his talents.
Interpretation
Embrace your flaws and recognize the potential burden of your strengths.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that one should appreciate their shortcomings as they contribute to personal growth and understanding. At the same time, it alludes to the idea that great talent can also lead to fear or responsibility, implying a balance between self-acceptance and the recognition of one’s capabilities.
In practice
In a personal development workshop, one could use this quote to encourage participants to reflect on their flaws positively.
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
He who cannot find time to consult his Bible will one day find he has time to be sick; he who has no time to pray must find time to die; he who can find no time to reflect is most likely to find time to sin; he who cannot find time for repentance will find an eternity in which repentance will be of no avail; he who cannot find time to work for others may find an eternity in which to suffer for himself.
Do not believe a thing because you have read about it in a book. Do not believe a thing because another man has said it was true. Do not believe in words because they are hallowed by tradition. Find out the truth for yourself. Reason it out. That is realization.
I know when to say no and when to say yes. I take responsibility for my choices. The victim? She went somewhere else. The only one who can truly victimize me is myself, and 99 percent of the time I choose to do that no more. But I need to continue to remember the key principles: boundaries, letting go, forgiveness after feeling my feelings—not before, self-expression, loving others but loving myself, too.
Meditate. Breathe consciously. Listen. Pay attention. Treasure every moment. Make the connection.
To become learned, each day add something. To become enlightened, each day drop something
Compassion for myself is the most powerful healer of them all.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.