In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.
Interpretation
Taking risks requires decisiveness and confidence in your actions.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes that in situations that are precarious or uncertain, such as skating over thin ice, the best approach is to act swiftly and with confidence. Hesitation can lead to danger; therefore, moving quickly can often ensure safety and success, reflecting a broader principle about life where fear must be met with proactive measures.
In practice
During a motivational speech to encourage students to pursue their dreams.
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?
Mr. President how long must women wait to get their liberty? Let us have the rights we deserve.
What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?
People say you have to hit rock bottom, and, I can tell you, almost dying is as rock bottom as it gets.
Let them call me rebel, and welcome, I feel no concern from it.
The strike, the boycott, the refusal to serve, the ability to paralyze the functioning of a complex social structure-these remain potent weapons against the most fearsome state or corporate power.
Do not look upon this world with fear and loathing. Bravely face whatever the gods offer.
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