Nefertiti is lovely, but we should use our wit and will to look beyond that beautiful face to discover and to enjoy a more satisfying narrative - the story of mankind, not just of man.
Bettany HughesRead
We've become embarrassed about asking ourselves the straightforward, simple questions that are actually the most relevent: what is it to be human? How can we steer a course between self-indulgence and self-denial and be the very best version of ourselves that we can?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of introspection and finding balance in our lives to become our best selves.
Bettany Hughes highlights a profound inquiry into the nature of humanity and the challenges of navigating personal desires. She suggests that in our pursuit of self-improvement, we often shy away from fundamental questions about our existence and what it means to live authentically. The quote calls for a thoughtful examination of our lives, encouraging a balance between self-indulgence and self-denial to foster personal growth.
Themes
HumanitySelf-ImprovementIntrospectionBalanceAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
In a self-help seminar discussing personal growth.
More from Bettany Hughes
All quotes →I cannot write about the past unless I go where history happened. Some make very good armchair historians, I'm not one of them. If you're going to inhabit someone else's world, the very least you can do is to spend a little time in it.
Bettany HughesRead
We think the way we do partly because Socrates thought the way he did. His basic idea - that the unexamined life is not worth living - is what it means to live in the modern world, to develop ideas and ask questions.
Bettany HughesRead
Of all the human figurines discovered so far from 30,000-3,000BC, 92% are of the female form. This is not to say there was any kind of matriarchy or worship of a mother goddess - far from it - but women are conspicuous by their presence.
Bettany HughesRead
When she stepped out of that spumy sea Aphrodite was said to have brought fertility, flowers, life, light to a barren world. For centuries women and men went to her sanctuaries to seek her pity and protection. Her domain was originally not just lust, but lust for life.
Bettany HughesRead
Venus, ancient goddess of love and beauty, is an apparently irrelevant, invented deity of the long dead. But Venus merits scrutiny. Chart her life story across 5,000 years and you chart the evolution of our conflicted relationship with sex and with the female body.
Bettany HughesRead
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