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.
My body will not be a tomb for other creatures.
God only rarely reveals the future. When he does so, it is for one reason: it's a future that was written so as to be altered.
Through repentance the filth of our foul actions is washed away. After this, we participate in the Holy Spirit, not automatically, but according to the faith, humility and inner disposition of the repentance in which our soul is engaged. For this reason it is good to repent each day as the act of repentance is unending.
Although I could never get used to the constant state of anxiety in which the guilty, the great, and the tenderhearted live, I felt I was doing my best in the way of mimicry.
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
The born-again Christian sees life not as a blurred , confused, meaningless mass, but as something planned and purposeful.
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