The whole world might know you and acclaim you, but someone in the past, forever unreachable, forever unknowing, spoils it all.
Interpretation
The acknowledgment and acclaim of the world can feel empty if there is someone from the past whose approval we will never receive.
This quote by Isaac Asimov reflects on the human longing for connection and approval, illustrating that fame and recognition can feel hollow when overshadowed by the desire for validation from those we can no longer reach. It emphasizes the poignant reality that our past relationships, whether positive or negative, shape our present self-image and emotional fulfillment, reminding us that some relationships can leave a lasting impact regardless of time or distance.
In practice
During a motivational speech about the importance of being true to oneself despite fame.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
Strange a God who mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness, then invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none Himself; who frowns upon crimes yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon Himself; and finally with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship Him!
The death clock is ticking slowly in our breast, and each drop of blood measures its time, and our life is a lingering fever.
We build buildings based on the false assumption that women go to mosques half as much as they actually do. In fact, the US is the only country in the world where women and men report that they attend the mosque in equal numbers, but our institutions aren't representing this reality.
A King (as such) is not a great man. He has great power, but it is not his own.
The human body is always treated as an image of society.
Rightness expresses of actions, what straightness does of lines; and there can no more be two kinds of right action than there can be two kinds of straight lines.
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