Talking much is a sign of vanity, for the one who is lavish with words is cheap in deeds.
Interpretation
This quote highlights that excessive talk often stems from vanity and that those who speak a lot may not necessarily act on their words.
Walter Raleigh's quote emphasizes the idea that talking excessively can be a manifestation of vanity, suggesting that people who are overly verbal often lack substantial actions to back up their words. It serves as a reminder that true value is found in actions rather than empty rhetoric, and that meaningful deeds hold far more significance than mere words. This reflects a wider philosophical view that advocates for authenticity and integrity in communication and behavior.
In practice
In a speech about integrity, a speaker might use this quote to emphasize the importance of aligning actions with words.
Passions are liken'd best to floods and streams:_x000D_ _x000D_ The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb;_x000D_ _x000D_ So, when affection yields discourse, it seems_x000D_ _x000D_ The bottom is but shallow whence they come._x000D_ _x000D_ They that are rich in words, in words discover
Silence in love betrays more woe - Than words though ne'er so witty; A beggar that is dumb, you know, may challenge double pity.
Even such isTime, which takes in trust Our youth, our joys, and all we have, And pays us but with age and dust, Who in the dark and silent grave When we have wandered all our ways Shuts up the story of our days, And from which earth, and grave, and dust The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.
If she undervalues me, _x000D_ _x000D_ What care I how fair she be?
If all the world and love were young,_x000D_ _x000D_ And truth in every shepherd's tongue,_x000D_ _x000D_ These pretty pleasures might me move_x000D_ _x000D_ To live with thee, and be thy love.
It is the nature of men having escaped one extreme, which by force they were constrained long to endure, to run headlong into the other extreme, forgetting that virtue doth always consist in the mean.
With every pill we have prescribed for us we should also be given a creative prayer, a suggested way to correct our destructive patterns of thought.
The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea.
When the heart is right, the mind and the body will follow.
It is important for you to know who you are and who you may become. It is more important than what you do, even as vital as your work is and will be.
I'm in no position to hand down any advice," he said, "but there's a rule I follow when I don't know what to do." "A rule?" "If you have to choose between something that has form and something that doesn't, go for the one without form. That's my rule. Whenever I run into a wall I follow that rule, and it always works out. Even if it's hard going at the time.
Tolerance, like any aspect of peace, is forever a work in progress, never completed, and, if we're as intelligent as we like to think we are, never abandoned.
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