There's always failure. And there's always disappointment. And there's always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums.
Interpretation
Failure and disappointment are inevitable in life, but we can learn from them to grow.
In this quote, Michael J. Fox acknowledges that experiencing failure, disappointment, and loss is a universal part of life. Rather than viewing these negative experiences as voids that consume us, Fox encourages us to learn from our setbacks and understand that they can lead to personal growth and resilience. The idea is that these 'holes' in our lives are filled with lessons and opportunities for development, allowing us to move forward with greater wisdom.
In practice
During a motivational speech to inspire students after a series of setbacks.
I find as long as I acknowledge the truth of something, then that's it. I know what it is and then I can operate. But if I overestimate the downside of something or the challenge of something and I get too obsessed about the difficulty of it, then I don't leave enough room to be open to the upside, the possibility.
My whole life, meeting people is like a blind date, because I feel like they've already seen the video on me.
There are no moments you have frozen in amber. It's moving, it's changing, so appreciate what's good about right now and be ready for what's next.
Certainly people have a lot tougher situations than I've had to deal with. But I will say we are all dying from the moment we are born. This is not just rehearsal.
I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm an activist, I'm a writer and I'm just a student of the world.
The laughs mean more to me than the adoration. If two girls walk up to me and one says 'you're cute', I'll say 'thank you', but I appreciate it much more when the other one says 'you make me laugh so much'.
Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.
Grandfather's been dead all these years, but if you lifted my skull, by God, in the convolutions of my brain you'd find the big ridges of his thumbprint. He touched me. As I said earlier, he was a sculptor. 'I hate a Roman named Status Quo!' he said to me. 'Stuff your eyes with wonder,' he said, 'live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.
... with men it's rush, rush, rush, every minute. I'm glad I'm a sedentary spider." "What does sedentary mean?" asked Wilbur. "Means I sit still a good part of the time and don't go wandering all over creation. I know a good thing when I see it, and my web is a good thing. I stay put and wait for what comes. Gives me a chance to think.
Pain can make a whole winter bright, like fever, force us to live deep and hard.
There are so many things that we are capable of, that we could be or do. The potentialities are so great that we never, any of us, are more than one-fourth fulfilled.
I gotta big mouth, I can't help it, I talk from my heart, I'm real, whatever comes comes. But my controversy problem, it's not my fault, I try to find my way in the world you know, I try to be somebody instead of just make money off of everybody. So I go down paths that haven't been traveled before and I usually mess up, but I learn, I come back stronger.
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