Quotes About Perspective

a novel, like a myth or any great work of art, can become an initiation that helps us to make a painful rite of passage from one phase of life, one state of mind, to another. A novel, like a myth, teaches us to see the world differently; it shows us how to look into our own hearts and to see our world from a perspective that goes beyond our own self-interest.

It is always tempting to try to shut out the suffering that is an inescapable part of the human condition, but once it has broken through the cautionary barricades we have erected against it, we can never see the world in the same way again.

We should probably all pause to confront our past from time to time, because it changes its meaning as our circumstances alter.

I tremble for our world, where, in the smallest of ways, we find it impossible... to find room for the other in our minds. If we cannot accommodate a viewpoint in a friend without resorting to unkindness, how can we hope to heal the terrible problems of our planet?

novel, like a myth, teaches us to see the world differently; it shows us how to look into our own hearts and to see our world from a perspective that goes beyond our own self-interest. If

And before you embark on an argument or a debate, ask yourself honestly if you are ready to change your mind.

People would continue to adopt a particular conception of the divine because it worked for them, not because it was scientifically or philosophically sound.

it is important to assume that the speaker shares the same human nature as yourself and that, even though your belief systems may differ, you both have the same idea of what constitutes truth.

our version of the same event is also likely to be a reflection upon our own situation and suffering rather than a dispassionate and wholly factual account. We

Charity," Davidson continues, "is forced on us, whether we like it or not; if we want to understand others, we must count them right in most matters."13

With this new empathetic understanding of the context, we will find that we can imagine ourselves, in similar circumstances, feeling the same.

In other words, when making an effort to understand something strange and alien to you, it is important to assume that the speaker share the same human nature as yourself and that, even though your belief systems may differ, you both have the same idea of what constitutes truth.

In a world of fools, I was, I think, to him one of the greater fools.

All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them.

Why the Kikuyu, who personally have so little fear of death, should be so terrified to touch a corpse, while the white people, who are afraid to die, handle the dead easily, I do not know. Here once more you feel their reality to be different from our realities.

Iš vis? civilizacijos išradim? ?iabuviai daugiausia vertina degtukus, dvirat? ir šautuv?, jei jais žavisi, ta?iau ir j? nedvejodami atsisakys, jei tik užeis kalba apie karv?.

Oh no,' said the moon, 'time means very little to me.

Once you've spent a winter buried in the Alpine snow foraging for food, it's hard to complain over heat.

Did you know that when you save someone's life, it makes you their hero? Did you know that, even if that person is mad at your for saving their life, another person who may have been watching or who may have heard about it could be affected by what you did for that other person, and you could be a hero to them, too?

It's funny how many little things you get used to - attached to, even - and never realize until you travel abroad and those things are not available.

Sometimes the little things are the big things.

My dear brother, never allow a woman to hold all of the cards.

Life is made up of moments, good and bad. But while you don't get to pick all the moments, you do get to pick which ones you cling to.

The Days can spin yarns that seem so real that if one of them told you a tale about a blizzard, you'd get frostbite even if you were standing in your kitchen on the hottest day of the year.