How is it possible for one to own the stars?" "To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly. "I don't know. To nobody.
Interpretation
This quote questions the concept of ownership and what truly belongs to humanity.
In this exchange, the businessman challenges the idea of ownership and possession, illustrating a philosophical debate about whether things of great beauty and wonder, like the stars, can truly belong to anyone. It suggests that some things are beyond material ownership, belonging instead to the collective human experience and the universe.
In practice
During a discussion on environmental ethics, this quote can emphasize the interconnectedness of humanity and nature.
Grown-ups love figures... When you tell them you've made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? " Instead they demand "How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? " Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.
Attitude is a paintbrush. It colors everything!
Water, thou hast no taste, no color, no odor; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself, thou fillest us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses.
In those days, I didn't understand anything. I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words. She perfumed my planet and lit up my life. I should never have run away! I ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions. Flowers are so contadictory! But I was too young to know how to love her.
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.
When the body sinks into death, the essence of man is revealed. Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter. The body is an old crock that nobody will miss. I have never known a man to think of himself when dying. Never.
The ultimate aim of the ego is not to see something, but to be something.
There are three kinds of praise, that which we yield, that which we lend, and that which we pay. We yield it to the powerful from fear, we lend it to the weak from interest, and we pay it to the deserving from gratitude.
Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas. - Censure acquits the raven, but pursues the dove.
Traffic congestion is caused by vehicles, not by people in themselves.
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
Irresolution on the schemes of life which offer themselves to our choice, and inconstancy in pursuing them, are the greatest causes of all our unhappiness.
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