Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stagecoach.
Interpretation
Society's mistakes and foolish behaviors spread more quickly now than in the past.
Oliver Goldsmith reflects on the rapid pace at which negative influences and foolishness circulate in society compared to his own time. He observes that while past follies took time to permeate, today they spread swiftly, suggesting a critique of modernity and the changes in social dynamics.
In practice
During a speech on the impact of social media, one could use this quote to emphasize how quickly misinformation spreads today.
Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.
A mind too vigorous and active, serves only to consume the body to which it is joined.
Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
Whatever the skill of any country may be in the sciences, it is from its excellence in polite learning alone that it must expect a character from posterity.
Life at the greatest and best is but a froward child, that must be humored and coaxed a little till it falls asleep, and then all the care is over.
Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,_x000D_ _x000D_ Adorns and cheers our way;_x000D_ _x000D_ And still, as darker grows the night,_x000D_ _x000D_ Emits a brighter ray.
Change is a threat when done to me, but an opportunity when done by me.
The male clerk with his quill pen and copper-plate handwriting had gone for good. The female short-hand typist took his place. It was a decisive moment in women's emancipation.
Acknowledging the physical realities of our planet does not mean a dismal future of endless sacrifice. In fact, acknowledging these realities is the first step in dealing with them. We can meet the resource problems of the world - water, food, minerals, farmlands, forests, overpopulation, pollution - if we tackle them with courage and foresight.
People have to understand that unless social enterprise is experimental, it will not succeed in making a difference.
No, we are not anti-white. But we don't have time for the white man. The white man is on top already, the white man is the boss already ... He has first-class citizenship already. So you are wasting your time talking to the white man. We are working on our own people.
Where something becomes extremely difficult and unbearable, there we also stand always already quite near its transformation.
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