The reason why men do not obey us, is because they see the mud at the bottom of our eye.
Interpretation
People are often reluctant to follow others when they perceive their flaws or imperfections.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that individuals may struggle to earn respect and obedience due to their visible imperfections or vulnerabilities. The metaphor of 'mud at the bottom of our eye' implies that when others can see our faults, it undermines our authority and diminishes the trust they place in us, making it difficult for them to follow our lead.
In practice
In a team meeting to encourage open communication and trust.
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
He had opened his heart to the sublime indifference of the universe
Nothing can prevent us from another day and night, and the myth of perpetual flight.
I hope that people of all faiths will start looking for our too-invisible children who are crying out for help.
In many parts of the world, chaining of people with mental illnesses is not uncommon, nor is seeing people walking around in clearly an unwell state, half naked, and no one takes any notice of them. It is tragic. There is a basic human right, which is not about just healthcare, but it is about the right to life with dignity, a right to citizenship.
Since inequalities of privilege are greater than could possibly be defended rationally, the intelligence of privileged groups is usually applied to the task of inventing specious proofs for the theory that universal values spring from, and that general interests are served by, the special privileges which they hold.
Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates.
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