Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
DemosthenesRead
Nothing is so easy as to deceive oneself; for what we wish, we readily believe.
Interpretation
Self-deception is easy, as we tend to believe what aligns with our desires.
This quote by Demosthenes highlights the human tendency to deceive oneself, motivated by personal desires or wishes. It suggests that when we want something to be true, we often convince ourselves of its truth, disregarding evidence or reality that contradicts our beliefs.
In practice
In a motivational speech about self-awareness.
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
Beware lest in your anxiety to avoid war you obtain a master
Success has a great tendency to conceal and throw a veil over the evil deeds of men.
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.
Close alliances with despots are never safe for free states.
may my heart always be open to little birds who are the secrets of living
If you are able to state a problem - any problem - and if it is important enough, then the problem can be solved.
The cavity which suffering carves into our souls will one day also be the receptacle of joy.
It (LSD) opened my eyes. We only use one-tenth of our brain. Just think of what we could accomplish if we could only tap that hidden part! It would mean a whole new world if the politicians would take LSD. There wouldn't be any more war or poverty or famine.
But because of his telling, many who did not believe have come to believe, and some who did not care have come to care. He tells the story, out of infinite pain, partly to honor the dead, but also to warn the living - to warn the living that it could happen again and that it must never happen again. Better than one heart be broken a thousand times in the retelling, he has decided, if it means that a thousand other hearts need not be broken at all. (vi)
If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.