Say not always what you know, but always know what you say.
ClaudiusRead
No one is more miserable than the person who wills everything and can do nothing.
Interpretation
Desiring everything without the ability to achieve it leads to deep frustration and misery.
This quote reflects on the internal conflict of wishing for great things while lacking the means or ability to attain them. It emphasizes that having grand desires without the capacity to fulfill them creates a profound sense of dissatisfaction and unhappiness, highlighting the importance of aligning aspirations with one's capabilities.
In practice
This quote can be used to encourage someone who is feeling overwhelmed by their unachievable goals.
Say not always what you know, but always know what you say.
And if you're lucky enough to survive going crazy and get back to the point where you can pass for normal, it builds a question into the rest of your life. You have to forgive people for wondering, 'How all right can he be?'
It is not the desire of new acquisitions, but the glory of conquests, that fires the soldier's breast; as indeed the town is seldom worth much, when it has suffered the devastations of a siege.
All you need is already within you, only you must approach your self with reverence and love. Self-condemnation and self-distrust are grievous errors. Your constant flight from pain and search for pleasure is a sign of love you bear for your self, all I plead with you is this: make love of your self perfect. Deny yourself nothing -- glue your self infinity and eternity and discover that you do not need them; you are beyond.
A wise player ought to accept his throws and score them, not bewail his luck.
The fly that doesn't want to be swatted is most secure when it lights on the fly-swatter.
Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the Romance of the unusual.
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