Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them.
Jawaharlal NehruRead
What we really are matters more than what other people think of us.
Interpretation
Our true essence is more important than others' opinions of us.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-identity and authenticity over external validation. It suggests that our character and the essence of who we are hold greater significance than the perceptions and judgments that others may have of us.
In practice
During a personal development seminar about self-esteem.
Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them.
India has known the innocence and insouciance of childhood, the passion and abandon of youth, and the ripe wisdom of maturity that comes from long experience of pain and pleasure; and over and over a gain she has renewed her childhood and youth and age
Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.
Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.
Loyal and efficient work in a great cause, even though it may not be immediately recognized, ultimately bears fruit.
Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles.
There are exceptional people out there who are capable of starting epidemics. All you have to do is find them.
Suffering is by no means a privilege, a sign of nobility, a reminder of God. Suffering is a fierce, bestial thing, commonplace, uncalled for, natural as air. It is intangible; no one can grasp it or fight against it; it dwells in time - is the same thing as time; if it comes in fits and starts, that is only so as to leave the sufferer more defenseless during the moments that follow, those long moments when one relives the last bout of torture and waits for the next.
Maybe at the heart of all our traveling is the dream of someday, somehow, getting Home.
Free grace will fix those whom free will shook down into a gulf of misery.
We had a kettle; we let it leak: Our not repairing made it worse. We haven't had any tea for a week... The bottom is out of the Universe.
If the Barbarians are destroyed, who will we then be able to blame for the bad things?
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