The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits;- on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Matthew ArnoldRead
Resolve to be thyself: and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery.
Interpretation
Be true to yourself, and self-discovery will alleviate your suffering.
In this quote, Matthew Arnold emphasizes the importance of authenticity and self-awareness. By resolving to be true to oneself, one embarks on a journey of self-discovery that can lead to the relinquishment of personal struggles and misery, highlighting the transformative power of genuine self-acceptance.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal growth.
The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits;- on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
And each day brings it's pretty dust, Our soon-choked souls to fll And we forget because we must, And not because we will.
It is almost impossible to exaggerate the proneness of the human mind to take miracles as evidence, and to seek for miracles as evidence.
To have the sense of creative activity is the great happiness and the great proof of being alive.
Nature, with equal mind, Sees all her sons at play, Sees man control the wind, The wind sweep man away.
Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.
Those who every morning plan the transactions of the day and follow out that plan carry a thread that will guide them through the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of their time is like a ray of light which darts itself through all their occupations. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidents, chaos will soon reign.
Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.
Memory cuts both ways; it can either provide you with tremendous strength and a foundation to carry you through your life, or it can be a demon that just ruins your present and your future because you canβt let go of the past.
I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the best man in the country; but I am reminded, in this connection, of a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that "it was not best to swap horses when crossing streams."
What I fear and desire most in this world is passion. I fear it because it promises to be spontaneous, out of my control, unnamed, beyond my reasonable self. I desire it because passion has color, like the landscape before me. It is not pale. It is not neutral. It reveals the backside of the heart.
If there is a single definition of healing it is to enter with mercy and awareness those pains, mental and physical, from which we have withdrawn in judgment and dismay. (48)
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