One ship drives east and other drives west by the same winds that blow. It's the set of the sails and not the gales that determines the way they go.
Interpretation
The direction we take in life is determined by our choices, not by external circumstances.
This quote emphasizes that while we may all face the same challenges and influences in life, it is ultimately our decisions—symbolized by the sails—that determine the path we follow. It suggests that personal agency and attitude play crucial roles in how we navigate our journeys.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
Sweep up the debris of decaying faith; _x000D_ Sweep down the cobwebs of worn-out out beliefs, _x000D_ And throw your soul wide open to the light of reason and of knowledge. _x000D_ Be not afraid _x000D_ To thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole.
I am the voice of the voiceless; Through me the dumb shall speak. Till the deaf world's ears be made to hear. The wrongs of the wordless weak. And I am my brothers keeper, And I will fight his fights; And speak the words for beast and bird. Till the world shall set things right.
A weed is but an unloved flower.
So many gods, so many creeds, so many paths that wind and wind while just the art of being kind is all the sad world needs.
'Tis easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows along like a song; But the man worth while is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong.
Do you wish the world were happy? Then remember day by day, just to scatter seeds of kindness as you pass along the way. . . .
I am an old man and have had many worries, but most have never come to pass.
Every man needs a blind eye and a deaf ear, so when people applaud, you'll only hear half of it, and when people salute, you'll only see part of it. Believe only half the praise and half the criticism.
My whole goal is to keep my spirit intact. If that doesn't happen, none of this is worth it.
Of the few innocent pleasures left to men past middle life, the jamming of common sense down the throats of fools is perhaps the keenest.
Experience, the interpreter between creative nature and the human race, teaches the action of nature among mortals: how under the constraint of necessity she cannot act otherwise than as reason, who steers her helm, teaches her to act.
When you get to be my age, baby, you have to pay time more respect.
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