Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.
Dag HammarskjoldRead
Time goes by, reputation increases, ability declines.
Interpretation
As time passes, our reputation may improve while our abilities may deteriorate.
This quote by Dag Hammarskjold reflects the paradox of life where the perception of one's value may grow with age and experience, while the actual skillset or ability to perform tasks may wane. It serves as a reminder to balance the cultivation of our reputations with the continuous honing of our abilities, as both elements are crucial to personal and professional success.
In practice
In a speech about personal growth, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of maintaining skills.
Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.
It is not we who seek the Way, but the Way which seeks us. That is why you are faithful to it, even while you stand waiting, so long as you are prepared, and act the moment you are confronted by its demands.
Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.
The world cannot live at peace without the United Nations. For this reason: it creates a reasonable guarantee that all this change in the world, these tremendous political and economic developments, can be channelized, kept orderly. The United Nations is a mold that keeps the hot metal from spilling over.
In a dream I walked with God through the deep places of creation; past walls that receded and gates that opened through hall after hall of silence, darkness and refreshment--the dwelling place of souls acquainted with light and warmth--until, around me, was an infinity into which we all flowed together and lived anew, like the rings made by raindrops falling upon wide expanses of calm dark waters.
He is one of those who has had the wilderness for a pillow, and called a star his brother. Alone. But loneliness can be a communion.
No man can avail himself of the forces of his creative imagination, while dissipating them.
Your self-worth is determined by you. You don't have to depend on someone to tell you who you are.
Defy the crowd. The crowd isnβt always wise. It can also lead you down a path of silliness, sub-optimal choices, and downright destruction. Enchantment is as necessary for people to diverge from a crowd as it is to get people to join one.
My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity.
All writers learn this, in time: don't show your work to other people until it's safely finished. Even discussing your unborn book in quite general terms can be such an undermining experience that, afterwards, you give it up and go to live in Guatemala.
It is only great souls that know how much glory there is in being good.
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