Oh, he was just angry, we tell ourselves when someone blurts out something he later apologizes for. But a word, once spoken, lingers forever; to keep peace we pretend to forget, but we never do. Strange that a spoken word can have such lasting power when words carved on stone monuments vanish in spite of all our efforts to preserve them. What we would lose persists, lodged in our minds, and what we would keep is lost to water, moths, moss.
Interpretation
Spoken words can have lasting effects, often more than physical inscriptions, impacting our memories and relationships.
This quote emphasizes the profound impact that spoken words can have on individuals and relationships. While we might try to brush aside hurtful comments by attributing them to anger or temporary emotions, the reality is that such words leave a lasting impression on our minds. In contrast, physical representations of words, like those on monuments, often fade and disappear over time. The quote poignantly highlights the idea that while we might strive to preserve certain memories or words, it is often the painful or damaging words that remain etched in our minds.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a workshop on effective communication to highlight how words can affect people.
Now I felt the long-forgotten urgency of lovemaking, when it seems one's human selves leave, to be replaced by hungry beasts bolting their food. Gone are the civilized beings who talk of manners and journeys and letters; in their places are two bodies straining to give birth to a burst of inhuman pleasure followed by a great, floating nothingness. An explosion of life followed by death - in this we live, and in this we foreshadow our own sweet deaths.
No person, no place, and no thing has any power over us, for 'we' are the only thinkers in our mind. When we create peace and harmony and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives.
The greatest firmness is the greatest mercy.
Helped are those who are content to be themselves; they will never lack mystery in their lives and the joys of self-discovery will be constant.
The older I get, I realize, 'Man, I'm a very rare bird,' and that's not because of necessarily my talent or ability; it so much depends on luck and just the grace of the universe.
Even so, one step from my grave,_x000D_ _x000D_ I believe that cruelty, spite,_x000D_ _x000D_ The powers of darkness will in time_x000D_ _x000D_ Be crushed by the spirit of light.
If you desire healing, let yourself fall ill let yourself fall ill.
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