When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.
Edith HamiltonRead
Pain is the most individualized thing on earth. It is true that it is the great common bond as well, but that realization only comes when it is over. To suffer is to be alone. To watch another suffer is to know the barrier that shuts each of us away by himself Only individuals can suffer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Pain is a deeply personal experience that isolates individuals but also connects them in shared understanding.
This quote reflects on the nature of pain and suffering, emphasizing that while pain is a universal experience, it is deeply personal and can lead to feelings of isolation. The understanding of shared suffering often comes only after the pain has subsided, highlighting a paradox of human experience where we are both connected and solitary in our struggles.
Themes
PainSufferingIndividualIsolationConnection
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a mental health conference might use this quote to discuss the individuality of pain.
More from Edith Hamilton
All quotes →The power of good is shown not by triumphantly conquering evil, but by continuing to resist evil while facing certain defeat.
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Theories that go counter to the facts of human nature are foredoomed.
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To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful ... was a mark of the Greek spirit.
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Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom.
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So far, we do not seem appalled at the prospect of exactly the same kind of education being applied to all the school children from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but there is an uneasiness in the air, a realization that the individual is growing less easy to find; an idea, perhaps, of what standardization might become when the units are not machines, but human beings.
Edith HamiltonRead
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