Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.
Interpretation
A calm mind remains untroubled by external chaos and continues to move forward steadily.
This quote suggests that a person who maintains a quiet and composed mind is less likely to be disturbed by the turmoil of the world around them. Just as a clock continues to tick regardless of the storm, individuals with inner peace can navigate both good fortune and adversity at their own pace, unaffected by external disturbances.
In practice
In a speech about mental health, one might highlight the importance of maintaining a quiet mind in stressful situations.
Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.
His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the many ill things he had done, and raised up again into sober and fearful gratitude by the many he had come so near to doing, yet avoided.
The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.
It is the history of our kindnesses that alone make this world tolerable. If it were not for that, for the effect of kind words, kind looks, kind letters . . . I should be inclined to think our life a practical jest in the worst possible spirit.
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
I've made peace with the fact that the things that I thought were weaknesses or flaws were just me. I like them.
The most baleful mischiefs may be expected from the unmanly conduct of not daring to face truth because it is unpleasing.
Blessed is he whose fame does not outshine his truth.
Attitude lies somewhere between emotion and logic. It's that curious mix of optimism and determination that enables you to maintain a positive outlook and to continue plodding in the face of the most adverse circumstances.
Over the years I have discovered that ideas come through an intense desire for them; continually desiring, the mind becomes a watchtower on the lookout for incidents that may excite the imagination.
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