Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Alexander PopeRead
Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, content to dwell in decencies for ever.
Interpretation
The pursuit of virtue can be challenging, leading some to settle for mere decency instead.
In this quote, Alexander Pope suggests that the pursuit of true virtue is often fraught with difficulties and can be painfully demanding. As a result, some individuals may choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of decency rather than striving for the higher, more restless ideals of virtue, ultimately reflecting on the human condition and our choices in moral living.
In practice
During a speech on ethical living, you might reference this quote to emphasize the struggles of maintaining high moral standards.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things.
Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare; And beauty draws us with a single hair.
An honest man's the noblest work of God.
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight;_x000D_ _x000D_ Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight.
Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.
Too much free time is certainly a monkey's paw in disguise. Most people can't handle a structureless life.
Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.
To be able to rise from the earth; to be able, from a station in outer space, to see the relationship of the planet earth to other planets; to be able to contemplate the billions of factors in precise and beautiful combination that make human existence possible; to be able to dwell on an encounter of the human brain and spirit with the universe
It's the end game that people dread and that's what I'm scared of
If we assume the best in people, we can radically redesign our democracy and welfare states.
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