“If we resist our passions, it is more through their weakness than our strength.”
Si nous résistons à nos passions, c'est plus par leur faiblesse que par notre force.
If we conquer our passions, it is more from their weakness than from our strength.
Maxim 122.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)
“How can one govern without taxes, without strength, without authority?”
1833
Address at Norwich University http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/education/bsa/citizenship_merit_badge/eisenhower_citizenship_quotations.pdf, Northfield, Vermont (9 June 1946)
1940s
Remarks by President Obama and Chancellor Merkel in an Exchange of Toasts on June 07, 2011. http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/137358/remarks_by_president_obama_and_chancellor_merkel_in_an_exchange_of_toasts.html
Context: History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their fears and openly confront dictators such as in about 22 years ago. […] The yearning for freedom cannot be contained by walls for long. It was this yearning that brought down the Iron Curtain that divided Germany and Europe, and indeed the world, into two blocs.
“Make no mistake, it is precisely our moral authority that is our greatest source of strength”
Quotes, NYU Speech (2004)
Context: Make no mistake, it is precisely our moral authority that is our greatest source of strength, and it is precisely our moral authority that has been recklessly put at risk by the cheap calculations and mean compromises of conscience wagered with history by this willful president.
"Thoreau"
Books and Portraits (1977)
Context: The strongest natures, when they are influenced, submit the most unreservedly: it is perhaps a sign of their strength. But that Thoreau lost any of his own force in the process, or took on permanently any colours not natural to himself the readers of his books will certainly deny. The Transcendentalist movement, like most movements of vigour, represented the effort of one or two remarkable people to shake off the old clothes which had become uncomfortable to them and fit themselves more closely to what now appeared to them to be the realities.
The Zombie Survival Guide
Context: Joy, sadness, confidence, anxiety, love, hatred, fear—all of these feelings and thousands more that make up the human “heart” are as useless to the living dead as the organ of the same name. Who knows if this is humanity’s greatest weakness or strength? The debate continues, and probably will forever.
“Do what is beyond your strength even should you fail sometimes.”
Cork address (1885)
“Each person's greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength.”
Source: Now, Discover Your Strengths (2001), p. 8
“For he that hath strength enough to protect all, wants not sufficiency to oppresse all.”
De Cive "Of the right of him, whether Counsell, or one Man onely, who hath the supreme power in the City" (1642) Ch. 6
“Encouraging the weak and the faint; giving strength and courage to those who have faltered.”
Many Mansions Chapter 20 - A Philosophy of Vocational Choice
When a woman of forty-nine asks: What is my true life work?
On Vocational Choices
“Our strength is often composed of the weakness that we're damned if we're going to show.”
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified
“We have an army without airplanes and without tanks. What sort of strength is this?”
“One defends when his strength is inadequate; he attacks when it is abundant.”
Source: The Art of War, Chapter IV · Disposition of the Army
“The strength of American democracy is shown most clearly through the difficulties it can overcome.”
Quotes, Concession speech (2000)
Context: I know that many of my supporters are disappointed. I am too. But our disappointment must be overcome by our love of country.
And I say to our fellow members of the world community, let no one see this contest as a sign of American weakness. The strength of American democracy is shown most clearly through the difficulties it can overcome.
“He always finds strength, despite everything, to paint your colors world.”
Original: Trova sempre la forza, nonostante tutto, per dipingere il tuo mondo a colori.
Source: prevale.net
“Sweet is the god but still I am
in agony and far from my strength.”
The Willis Barnstone translations, Dream
