Words sing. They hurt. They teach. They sanctify. They were man's first, immeasurable feat of magic. They liberated us from ignorance and our barbarous past.
Interpretation
Words have a powerful impact on human life, shaping understanding and transforming society.
In this quote, Leo Rosten highlights the profound nature of words as more than mere communication tools; they possess the ability to evoke emotions, impart knowledge, and elevate humanity. Rosten underscores how language empowers people to rise above ignorance and barbarism, marking it as humanity's first significant achievement that has lasting effects on civilization.
In practice
During a graduation speech to highlight the importance of education.
Proverbs often contradict one another, as any reader soon discovers. The sagacity that advises us to look before we leap promptly warns us that if we hesitate we are lost; that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but out of sight, out of mind.
I never cease being dumbfounded by the unbelievable things people believe.
I came to believe it not true that "the coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man only one." I think it is the other way around: It is the brave who die a thousand deaths. For it is imagination, and not just conscience, which doth make cowards of us all. Those who do not know fear are not truly brave.
The fellow who laughs last may laugh best, but he gets the reputation of being very slow-witted.
The purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to have it make a difference that you lived at all-using the talents that God has given you for the betterment of others.
Happiness comes only when we push our brains and hearts to the farthest reaches of which we are capable.
If you want to be wrong then follow the masses.
Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.
I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.
So, friends, every day do something that won't compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands.
It seems as though mankind has forgotten the laws of its divine Saviour, Who preached love and forgiveness of injuries—and that men attribute the greatest merit to skill in killing one another.
A search always starts with Beginner's Luck and ends with the Test of the Conqueror.
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