Never promise more than you can perform.
Publilius SyrusRead
You are in a pitiable condition if you have to conceal what you wish to tell.
Interpretation
Concealing your true thoughts or feelings puts you in a vulnerable position.
This quote by Publilius Syrus highlights the unfortunate state of being forced to hide one's true desires or intentions. It suggests that such concealment can lead to a sense of weakness or suffering, as authenticity is crucial for a fulfilling and honest life.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of honesty in relationships.
Never promise more than you can perform.
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.
In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.
Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.
What a tragedy is help where it harms what it supports!
The miser is as much in want of what he has as of what he has not.
Rather than feeling lost and unimportant and meaningless, set against galaxies which go beyond the reach of the furthest telescopes, I feel that my life has meaning. Perhaps I should feel insignificant, but instead I feel a soaring in my heart that the God who could create all this β and out of nothing β can still count the hairs of my head.
The egotist is all surface; underneath is a pulpy mess and a lot of self-doubt. But the egoist may be yielding and even deferential in things he doesn't consider important; in anything that touches his core he is remorseless.
Power invariably elects to go into the hands of the strong. That strength may be physical or of the heart or, if we do not fight shy of the word, of the spirit. Strength of the heart connotes soul-force. Let it be remembered that physical force is transitory, even as the body is transitory. But the power of spirit is permanent even as the spirit is everlasting.
The rise of capitalist practice and morality brought with it a radical revision of how the commons are treated, and also of how they are conceived.
When the prophet, a complacent fat man, Arrived at the mountain-top He cried: "Woe to my knowledge! I intended to see good white lands And bad black landsβ But the scene is grey.
Of what use are all the codes in the world, if by means of confidential reports, if for trifling reasons, if through anonymous traitors any honest citizen may be exiled or banished without a hearing, without a trial?
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