All things human hang by a slender thread; and that which seemed to stand strong suddenly falls and sinks in ruins.
OvidRead
We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.
Interpretation
People are often hesitant to accept truths that may cause them emotional pain.
This quote by Ovid suggests that individuals tend to resist acknowledging harsh realities or beliefs that could lead to emotional discomfort. The natural tendency to protect oneself from hurt can lead to denial or disbelief, even in the face of evidence. This observation highlights the complex interplay between truth and emotion in human psychology, where self-preservation often takes precedence over accepting unpleasant truths.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about mental health to emphasize the importance of facing difficult truths.
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.
Most safely shall you tread the middle path.
For thousands of years, we have gained the power to control the world outside us but not to control the world inside. You could stop a river from flowing, but you could not stop your body from becoming old. You could kill mosquitoes, but you could not kill annoying thoughts buzzing inside your head.
Now, when Luke Skywalker unmasks his father, he is taking off the machine role that the father has played. The father was the uniform. That is power, the state role.
Whom can I ask what I came to make happen in this world? Why do I move without wanting to, why am I not able to sit still? Why do I go rolling without wheels, flying without wings or feathers, and why did I decide to migrate if my bones live in Chile?
In times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings--artists, scientists, clowns and philosophers--to create order. In times such as ours, however, when there is too much order, too much management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relive the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption.
Totalitarianism is never content to rule by external means, namely, through the state and a machinery of violence; thanks to its peculiar ideology and the role assigned to it in this apparatus of coercion, totalitarianism has discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from within.
Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.
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