All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
I will follow the right side even to the fire, but excluding the fire if I can.
Interpretation
Stand firm in your beliefs, even in the face of adversity, while avoiding unnecessary harm.
This quote by Michel De Montaigne emphasizes the importance of following one's principles and doing what is morally right, even when the path is fraught with challenges. It suggests that while it's commendable to stand up for what is right, one should also be wise enough to avoid unnecessary danger or harm when possible.
In practice
During a leadership seminar when discussing ethical decision-making.
All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Pythagoras used to say that life resembles the Olympic Games: a few people strain their muscles to carry off a prize; others bring trinkets to sell to the crowd for gain; and some there are, and not the worst, who seek no other profit than to look at the show and see how and why everything is done; spectators of the life of other people in order to judge and regulate their own.
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Such as are in immediate fear of a losing their estates, of banishment, or of slavery, live in perpetual anguish, and lose all appetite and repose; whereas such as are actually poor, slaves, or exiles, ofttimes live as merrily as other folk.
Personally speaking, growing up as a gay man before it was as socially acceptable as it is now, I knew what it was to feel different, to feel alienated and to feel not like everyone else. But the very same thing that made me monstrous to some people also empowered me and made me who I was.
It is God who enables us to return to life after tragedy-not by eradicating all suffering but by giving us the strength and the courage to heal what we can heal.
There is no disgrace in honest failure; there is disgrace in fearing to fail
I've had two cancer bouts in my years on the Court, and the first one, Justice O'Connor told me, 'Now, you do the chemotherapy on Friday because you'll get over it during the weekend and you can be back in court on Monday.'
At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.
Courage is in the air in bracing whiffs_x000D_ _x000D_ Better than all the stalemate an's and ifs.
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