We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.
OvidRead
The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.
Interpretation
Challenges can lead to beautiful outcomes.
This quote suggests that out of hardship or difficulty (represented by the 'sharp thorn'), something beautiful and positive can emerge (symbolized by the 'delicate roses'). It highlights the paradox of life where struggles and pains can ultimately lead to growth and beauty.
In practice
During a presentation on overcoming obstacles, I used this quote to illustrate resilience.
We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.
All things human hang by a slender thread; and that which seemed to stand strong suddenly falls and sinks in ruins.
A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.
Fas est ab hoste doceri._x000D_ One should learn even from one's enemies.
Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.
The end doesn't justify the means.
Solitude in the presence of natural beauty and grandeur is the cradle of thought and aspirations which are not only good for the individual, but which society can ill do without.
I climb, I backtrack. I float. I ramble my way home.
It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw.
I have always tempered my killing with respect for the game pursued. I see the animal not only as a target, but as a living creature with more freedom than I will ever have. I take that life if I can, with regret as well as joy, and with the sure knowledge that nature's way of fang and claw and starvation are a far crueler fate than I bestow.
Back and forth she went each morning by the river, spring arriving once again; foolish, foolish spring, breaking open its tiny buds, and what she couldn’t stand was how—for many years, really—she had been made happy by such a thing. She had not thought she would ever become immune to the beauty of the physical world, but there you were. The river sparkled with the sun that rose, enough that she needed her sunglasses.
The stars, that nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps with everlasting oil, give due light to the misled and lonely traveller.
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