You are the heroes. You are the heroes everyday.
Miep GiesRead
Permanent remorse about failing to do your human duty, in my opinion, can be worse than losing your life.
Interpretation
Feeling regret for not fulfilling your responsibilities can be more painful than death itself.
Miep Gies emphasizes the profound weight of moral duty and the haunting nature of regret. She suggests that failing to act in accordance with one's ethical obligations leads to a deeper sorrow than the finality of death, implying that a life lived in regret due to inaction is a torment that can overshadow even life's end.
In practice
During a speech about personal responsibility, one could reference this quote to highlight the importance of acting on moral convictions.
You are the heroes. You are the heroes everyday.
One realized all sorts of things. The value of an illusion, for instance, and that the shadow can be more important than the substance. All sorts of things.
These practices - non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, chastity, and non-receiving - are to be practised by every man, woman, and child; by every soul, irrespective of nation, country, or position.
Every betrayal contains a perfect moment, a coin stamped heads or tails with salvation on the other side.
The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.
From childhood's hour I have not been. As others were, I have not seen. As others saw, I could not awaken. My heart to joy at the same tone. And all I loved, I loved alone.
We've got in the habit of not really understanding how freedom was in the 19th century, the idea of government of the people in the 19th century. America commits itself to that in theory.
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