The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish.
Interpretation
Growing older brings both increased wisdom and continued folly.
This quote captures the paradox of aging, suggesting that while experience and knowledge typically lead to wisdom, they can also coexist with a sense of foolishness. It highlights how the complexities of life can lead us to make mistakes, regardless of our age or wisdom, as we navigate our personal growth and learning.
In practice
This quote can be used in a graduation speech to reflect on the journey of learning.
The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.
To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
In youth men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel; and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in realizing and convincing themselves of the wisdom which they uttered long ago.
Pay no attention to what the critics say; _x000D_ _x000D_ no statue has ever been erected to a critic.
The greatest force of personal liberation is the decision to widen our circle of compassion, moving from focus on self to focus on service.
What you do thunders above your head so loudly, I cannot hear the words you speak.
Your masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason, drying up the prophetic capacities of your heart!
Anything you rely on can become a crutch. And disabled or not, when you rely on something, that is what will cripple you.
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