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In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Gratitude enhances our lives by acknowledging the unrecognized contributions of others.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer emphasizes the importance of gratitude in our lives, suggesting that we often overlook how much we benefit from the support and assistance of those around us. He warns against overvaluing our individual accomplishments while neglecting the collective contributions that enable our success, ultimately conveying that a rich life is one filled with appreciation for both the gifts we receive and the connections we make with others.

Themes

GratitudeContributionSupportLifeAcknowledgment

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about teamwork, you might use this quote to highlight the importance of supporting one another.

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It is God's earth out of which man is taken. From it he has his body. His body belongs to his essential being. Man's body is not his prison, his shell his exterior, but man himself. Man does not "have" a body; he does not "have" a soul; rather he "is" body and soul. Man in the beginning is really his body. He is one. He is his body, as Christ is completely his body, as the Church is the body of Christ
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...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.
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Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.
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The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
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