Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.
Nicolas ChamfortRead
Nature never said to me: Do not be poor; still less did she say: Be rich; her cry to me was always: Be independent.
Interpretation
Nature encourages independence rather than wealth or poverty.
This quote emphasizes that nature does not impose conditions of wealth or poverty on individuals, but rather advocates for independence. It suggests that true fulfillment comes not from material riches, but from the ability to stand on one's own and make choices freely within the natural world.
In practice
In a speech about personal growth, one might say, 'Remember, nature never said to be rich; it urges us to be independent.'
Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.
Pleasure can be supported by an illusion; but happiness rests upon truth.
It is with happiness as with watches: the less complicated, the less easily deranged.
There are more fools than wise men, and even in a wise man there is more folly than wisdom.
In living and in seeing other men, the heart must break or become as bronze.
And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead (suicide note)
If we all used clotheslines, we could save 30 million tons of coal a year, or shut down 15 nuclear power plants. And you don't have to wait to start. Yours could be up by this afternoon. To be specific, buy 50 feet of clothesline and a $3 bag of clothespins and become a solar energy pioneer.
We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
By confronting us with irreducible mysteries that stretch our daily vision to include infinity, nature opens an inviting and guiding path toward a spiritual life.
The pleasures of spring are available to everybody and cost nothing.
Once a disease has entered the body, all parts which are healthy must fight it: not one alone, but all. Because a disease might mean their common death. Nature knows this; and Nature attacks the disease with whatever help she can muster.
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