The Most Beautiful Maxim You Have Ever Heard Of

[beroq]

In this thread I urge every one of you to add a maxim that you think is most meaningful and worth sharing among all. Explain why, if possible.

Thanks!

Here's my entry. A maxim by Goethe:

"How can a man come to know himself? Never by thinking but by doing. Try to do your duty, and you will know at once what you are worth."

[mortalterror]

When great men let themselves be disheartened by the extent of their misfortunes, they reveal that they withstood them only through the strength of their ambition, and not through that of their soul; and that except for great vanity, heroes are made like other men.- La Rochefoucauld Maxim 24. Reminds me of Hemingway

The Master said: "The wise are without perplexity; the good are without sorrow; the brave are without fear."- Confucius

The Master said: "Zilu, have you heard of the six qualities and their six perversions?" - "No." - "Sit down, I will tell you. The love of humanity without the love of learning degenerates into silliness. The love of intelligence without the love of learning degenerates into frivolity. The love of chivalry without the love of learning degenerates into banditry. The love of frankness without the love of learning degenerates into brutality. The love of valor without the love of learning degenerates into violence. The love of force without the love of learning degenerates into anarchy.- Confucius

[Mr Endon]

'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better'.

Coming from whom it does (Beckett) it's like a shining beacon of hope.

[JBI]

What I have forgotten you will never know - it comes as a Jewish proverb from somewhere, not too sure of its origins, but I first heard it in Hebrew, but I have my suspicion it comes from Yiddish.

[Delta40]

After all, man is, in his ordinary way, a very competent
knower, and qualitative common-sense knowing is not
replaced by quantitative knowing. … This is not to say
that such common-sense naturalistic observation is
objective, dependable, or unbiased. But it is all that we
have. It is the only route to knowledge – noisy, fallible,
and biased though it be.

I don't know if that is a maxim, but I love it. Donald Campbell (1975)

[sixsmith]

Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable. If in order to elude the anxious question : 'What would life be?' one must, like the donkey, feed on the roses of illusion, then the absurd mind, rather the resigning itself to falsehood, prefers to adopt fearlessly Kierkegaard's reply: 'despair'. Everything considered, a determined soul will always manage.


Camus - The Myth of Sisyphus

[beroq]

What about this one by La Rochefoucauld, the French writer of the Louis XIV era:

"The simples man with passion is more persuasive than the most eloquent without it."

Reminds me someone, even though that "someone" is never a simple person at all. But also very passionate.

That person is Barack Obama.

[kelby_lake]

Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. (Arthur Miller)