Let us march immediately, and never lay down our arms until we obtain our independence.
Nathan HaleRead
I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of being useful to society and the honor found in serving the public good.
Nathan Hale's quote reflects the profound idea that true honor lies in being of service to others, particularly when that service is essential for the well-being of society. It suggests that every action taken for the public good, no matter how small, is meaningful and contributes to a greater purpose, advocating for a selfless dedication that ultimately elevates an individual's character.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a community service event to inspire volunteers.
Let us march immediately, and never lay down our arms until we obtain our independence.
I greatly fear some of America's greatest and most dangerous enemies are such as think themselves her best friends.
I am not influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good, becomes honorable by being necessary. If the exigencies of my country demand a peculiar service, its claim to perform that service are imperious.
Whatever seeds each man cultivates will grow to maturity and bear in him their own fruit. If they be vegetative, he will be like a plant.
I don't think the 9/11 attacks taught us anything we didn't already know about religion. It has long been obvious - even to the deeply religious - that religious fanaticism is an extremely dangerous deranger of otherwise sane and goodhearted people.
He who does not realize to what extent shifting fortune and necessity hold in subjection every human spirit, cannot regard as fellow-creatures nor love as he loves himself those whom chance separated from him by an abyss. The variety of constraints pressing upon man give rise to the illusion of several distinct species that cannot communicate. Only he who has measured the dominion of force, and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice.
Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room for it.
Charity is to be measured, not by what one has given away, but by what one has left.
You can never step in the same river twice.
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