“Life is the apprenticeship to progressive renunciation, to the steady diminution of our claims, of our hopes, of our powers, of our liberty.”
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Journal
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Henri-Frédéric Amiel 50
Swiss philosopher and poet 1821–1881Related quotes
Sharon pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi, 9 September 2003, http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/09sharon2.htm
2000s
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 385.
2000s, 2005, Second Inaugural Address (January 2005)
Attributed in Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart (1993) and popularized in Richard Carlson's bestselling Don't sweat the Small Stuff (1997). The phrasing is anachronistic and no earlier connection to Franklin is known.
Misattributed
“Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education.”
Special Message to the Congress on Education (20 February 1961) http://www.jfklink.com/speeches/jfk/publicpapers/1961/jfk46_61.html
1961
Context: Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. Our requirements for world leadership, our hopes for economic growth, and the demands of citizenship itself in an era such as this all require the maximum development of every young American's capacity. The human mind is our fundamental resource.
Source: The Building of the Ship (1849), Lines 396-399.