The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young.
Phillips BrooksRead
Much as we deplore our condition in life, nothing would make us more satisfied with it than the changing of places, for a few days, with our neighbors.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We often dislike our own lives but may appreciate them more if we experience another's life.
This quote by Phillips Brooks suggests that while we may often find fault with our own circumstances, a temporary exchange of life experiences with our neighbors could lead to greater satisfaction. It highlights the tendency of individuals to undervalue their own situations while romanticizing those of others, promoting the idea that gaining perspective through comparison can enhance our appreciation for what we have.
Themes
SatisfactionPerspectiveComparisonLifeContentment
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about appreciating our lives, you might use this quote to encourage gratitude.
More from Phillips Brooks
All quotes βWe never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
Phillips BrooksRead
The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.
Phillips BrooksRead
To believe in the God over us and around us and not in the God within us - that would be a powerless and fruitless faith.
Phillips BrooksRead
To say, 'well done' to any bit of good work is to take hold of the powers which have made the effort and strengthen them beyond our knowledge.
Phillips BrooksRead
Think of life as a voyage. The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.
Phillips BrooksRead
Similar quotes
So you know how things stand. Now forget what they think of you. Be satisfied if you can live the rest of your life, however short, as your nature demands. Focus on that, and don't let anything distract you. You've wandered all over and finally realized that you never found what you were after: how to live. Not in syllogisms, not in money, or fame, or self-indulgence. Nowhere.
Marcus AureliusRead
Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.
William Butler YeatsRead
People were excited by violence. What, after all, was the sexual act but a voluntarily endured assault, a momentary death?
P. D. JamesRead
As the sun shines both on the cedar and the smallest flower, so the Divine sun illumines each soul.
Therese Of LisieuxRead
In the end, there is no absence of irony: the integrity of what is sacred to Native Americans will be determined by the government that has been responsible for doing everything in its power to destroy Native American cultures.
Winona LadukeRead
Whether we like it or not, the one justification for the existence of all religions is death, they need death as much as we need bread to eat.
Jose SaramagoRead