When you're on top and you lead the parade, everyone's there throwing lilies and lilac water on your head. But when those parades have gone by and there's a storm in your heart, there are very few people that are going to sit there and listen to you bemoan life.
Interpretation
In times of success, many will celebrate with you, but in times of struggle, few will be there to support you.
This quote by Sylvester Stallone highlights the transient nature of fame and success, contrasting the jubilant moments of celebration when one is at the pinnacle of their achievements with the loneliness that often accompanies personal struggles. It suggests that true companionship is rare and that superficial relationships can easily fade away when one faces challenges, reminding us to appreciate genuine connections.
In practice
In a motivational speech about the importance of true friends.
When I saw 'Hercules,' my mind just exploded because I was extremely thin; I was insecure. I literally ran out of the theatre and started lifting things, anything I could think of - milk crates. I'm still lifting things. It changed my life.
I learned the real meaning of love. Love is absolute loyalty. People fade, looks fade, but loyalty never fades. You can depend so much on certain people, you can set your watch by them. And that's love, even if it doesn't seem very exciting.
At the end of the day, 'Rocky' is a love story, and he could never have reached the final bell without Adrian.
I'm always looking for a new challenge. There are a lot of mountains to climb out there. When I run out of mountains, I'll build a new one.
I'll always have this blue-collar connection. For every guy, there is an opportunity to be a lot better than he thought he could be. We can't all be the star of the team, but we can be a star in our life.
I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.
Think of life as a voyage. The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.
You cannot live your life to please others. The choice must be yours.
You can run but you can't hide... but I can try. I feel air catch in my lungs and I get a cramp in my side and this pain, this wonderful physical pain that I can place, reminds me that after all I am still alive.
Life was dense, dark, ancient. They watched Dean, serious and insane at his raving wheel, with eyes of hawks. All had their hands outstretched. They had come down from the back mountains and higher places to hold forth their hands for something they thought civilization could offer, and they never dreamed the sadness and the poor broken delusion of it.
Though fairy tales end after ten pages, our lives do not. We are multi-volume sets. In our lives, even though one episode amounts to a crash and burn, there is always another episode awaiting us and then another. There are always more opportunities to get it right, to fashion our lives in the ways we deserve to have them. Don't waste your time hating a failure. Failure is a greater teacher than success.
You're not dead at 85. You're a long way from it. Go out and enjoy. You've earned it.
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