Quotes about weakness
page 20

“To carry on the great revolutionary alliance, all organizations should conduct more self-criticisms, and conduct more investigations and studies and self-criticisms in one's own organization. This would facilitate the alliance. Otherwise, the enemy can easily exploit our weaknesses.”

Jiang Qing (1914–1991) Chinese political figure and wife of Mao Zedong

Source: Talk at the Peking Forum on Literature and Art (9 and 12 November 1967)

Study

“If defense is the stronger form of war, yet has a negative object, it follows that it should be used only so long as weakness compels, and be abandoned as soon as we are strong enough to pursue a positive object.”

Carl von Clausewitz book On War

Source: On War (1832), Book 6, Chapter 1.

War, Strong

“A weak king weakens a strong people.”

José Hermano Saraiva (1919–2012) Historian, Jurist, Politician

Original: (pt) Camões tinha razão. Um fraco rei faz fraca a forte gente.
Source: "A Alma e a Gente - D. Fernando, Fraco Rei, Forte Gente (D. Fernando, Weak King, Strong People)"

People, Strong

“One ought to have the moral character and tolerance to forgive people’s weaknesses.”

Bo Xilai (1949) former Politburo member of the Communist Party of China

Source: Excerpts of letter to his first wife (14 July 1975)

People, Forgiveness

“[National-Socialism is] not only narrow and selfish but arrogant [with a] very weak scientific foundation for its racial philosophy.”

Subhas Chandra Bose (1897–1945) Indian nationalist leader and politician

Source: quoted in Leonard Gordon, Bengal The Nationalist Movement, p 260, and in Elst, K. (2010). The saffron swastika: The notion of "Hindu fascism". p 959

Selfishness

“I often say that censorship is always a cause for celebration. It is always an opportunity because it reveals fear of reform. It means that the power position is so weak that you have got to care what people think.”

Julian Assange book When Google Met Wikileaks

Source: Julian Assange, "When Google Met Wikileaks" (ORbooks, New York, 2014), p. 121

People, Fear, Thinking

“Power is habit-forming. We grew addicted to it. Few things survive the centuries’ slow decay: senses grow dull; passions grow weak; and ideals die. Only the taste for power lives on as an excuse for survival.”

Jack Williamson book Star Bridge

Source: Star Bridge (1955), Chapter 20, “Prime Mover” (p. 275)

Sense, Passion

“The Church is expected, even in the middle of human weakness and error, to guard, in obedience and veneration, the Gospel Christ has entrusted to her. The Pope is not the creator of the faith, but the custodian of the Gospel.”

Diego Causero (1940) Italian apostolic nuncio

Source: Pope is not creator of the faith, but custodian of the Gospel https://www.cirkev.cz/archiv/080425-pope-is-not-creator-of-the-faith-but-custodian-of-the-gospel (2008)

Faith, Error, Christ

“You are not weak. You are brave. One of the bravest I know. Speaking your truth, a person living at the intersection of multiple identities, unapologetically, takes courage. I love you”

Jurnee Smollett (1986) American actress

14 February 2019 https://twitter.com/jurneesmollett/status/1096168270506258432 re Jussie Smollett (older brother)

Love, Truth, Courage, Personality

“Because physical theories typically predict numerical values, an improvement in experimental precision reduces the tolerance range and hence increases corroborability. In most psychological research, improved power of a statistical design leads to a prior probability approaching ½ of finding a significant difference in the theoretically predicted direction. Hence the corroboration yielded by "success" is very weak, and becomes weaker with increased precision. "Statistical significance" plays a logical role in psychology precisely the reverse of its role in physics. This problem is worsened by certain unhealthy tendencies prevalent among psychologists, such as a premium placed on experimental "cuteness" and a free reliance upon ad hoc explanations to avoid refutation.”

Paul E. Meehl (1920–2003) American psychologist

Source: [Theory-testing in psychology and physics: A methodological paradox, Philosophy of Science, 34, 2, 1967, 103–115, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/288135]

Problem, Success

“I don’t really have a lot of desires, or that’s what I think of myself. But if I were to pick one, I would want for people to live peacefully. I don’t understand why some people harass or hurt others, or why they do these things because they envy others — we fight and wound each other and it might be a natural phenomenon that arises among weak humans, but I still hurt thinking about social issues such as Asian hate.”

Gong Yoo (1979) South Korean actor

Source: "Gong Yoo talks life, death and 20 years in the business" in Korea JoongAng Daily https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/04/19/entertainment/movies/Gong-Yoo-actor-interview/20210419145803689.html (19 April 2021)

Hate, People, Understanding, Nature

“Silly people, and there are many, not only in enemy countries, might discount the force of the United States. Some said they were soft, others that they would never be united. They would fool around at a distance. They would never come to grips. They would never stand bloodletting. Their democracy and system of recurrent elections would paralyse their war horizon to friend or foe. Now we should see the weakness of this numerous but remote, wealthy, and talkative people. But I had studied the American Civil War, fought out to the last desperate inch.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

The Second World War (1948–1953)
Source: The Grand Alliance: The Second World War, Volume 3, (1950) p. 540

War, People, Fools, Democracy

“China's watching, Iran is watching, North Korea's watching, and if we continue to show weakness rather than strength, that is going to continue to invite aggression.”

Michael Waltz (1974) U.S. Representative from Florida

Source: Rep. Waltz to Newsmax: Biden's Weakness on Ukraine Could 'Invite Aggression' https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/michael-waltz-ukraine-russia-biden/2022/01/05/id/1051148/ (5 January 2022)

“To admit uncertainty is to admit to weakness, to powerlessness, and to believe in yourself despite both. It is a frailty, but in this frailty there is a strength: the conviction to live in your own mind, and not in someone else’s.”

Tara Westover book Educated

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 22, “What We Whispered and What We Screamed” (p. 197)

“Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting.
Then nothing. The weak sun
flickered over the dry surface.It is terrible to survive
as consciousness
buried in the dark earth.”

Louise Glück The Wild Iris

Source: "The Wild Iris" 1992

Sun

“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already—Mom's spaghetti”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Lose Yourself" (from 8 Mile, 2002)
2000s

Moms

“Humanity is a vampire's greatest weakness. No matter how easy it is to turn it off, it keeps trying to fight its way back in”

movie Vampire diaries

This TV show has changed my life and the perspective I have on my life as a vampire.

Way, Fight

“When it gets tough, it is time to renew your spirit, not to give up. It is time to be tough, not weak.”

- Goa

Time

“I sometimes think that my own weakness lies in not realizing the full depths of the weakness and stupidity of men. As a reasonable creature myself I seem to have an unfortunate tendency to expect others unlike myself to be reasonable.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (p. 267)
Short fiction, The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein (1999)

Men, Stupidity, Thinking

“I do not believe in a God who maliciously or arbitrarily interferes in the personal affairs of mankind. My religion consists of a humble admiration for the vast power which manifests itself in that small part of the universe which our poor, weak minds can grasp!”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

1930s, Wisehart interview (1930)

God, Religion, Universe, Parting

“Fear is a great enemy of man. It is the enemy of his progress. It disturbs his peace and harmony. It sucks or saps his vitality and energy. It drains the nervous system of its reserve of energy. It produces weakness.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

Conquest of Fear (c-1960)

Fear, Peace

“It is very easy to be a skilled man at the head of a powerful country. The difficult thing is to be one when representing a weak country.”

Daniel Salamanca (1863–1935) President of Bolivia (1863-1935)

https://www.paginasiete.bo/revmiradas/2017/7/2/hombre-simbolo-guerra-chaco-143092.html
El hombre símbolo de la Guerra del Chaco
Página Siete

Country

“From extreme old age, sanity is requested. It is like asking for strength from weakness.”

Daniel Salamanca (1863–1935) President of Bolivia (1863-1935)

Age

“It is not only an intellectual proposal, but connection with a divine life that helps to overcome our weaknesses and the darkness of our lives, to rise the summit where we see the Lord, where we see Him glorious and risen and we are filled with joy, where we find the meaning of our existence.”

Antonio Arregui Yarza (1939) Catholic archbishop

The Church in Ecuador officially launches the National Mission: “The Church is in need of a good house-cleaning.” http://www.fides.org/en/news/24075-AMERICA_ECUADOR_The_Church_in_Ecuador_officially_launches_the_National_Mission_The_Church_is_in_need_of_a_good_house_cleaning (28 April 2009)

Life, Help, Joy

“Forgiveness without justice is capitulation and weakness.”

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow (1946) primate of the Russian Orthodox Church

"Распятие Кирилла на кресте" (In Russian. "Crucifixion of Kirill on the cross") https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2022/03/18/raspiatie-kirilla-na-kreste, Novaya Gazeta, 18 March 2022

Justice, Forgiveness

“Our Lord has many weak children in His family, many dull pupils in His school, many raw soldiers in His army, and many lame sheep in His flock. Yet He bears with them all, and casts none away.”

J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) Anglican bishop

Vol. III, John XX: 24–31, p. 406
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. John (1865–1873)

Children, School, Family

“When God created the world, He placed sin and ignorance within satisfication of the appetite and knowledge and wisdom withing hunger. When Sahl hungered he was powerful, and whenever he ate, he became weak.”

Sahl al-Tustari (818–896) arabian Sufi, Islamic theologian

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 55

Wisdom, Hunger, God, World

“Don't deny your weakness, Don't make it weaken you too, cover it with your strength”

Josephs Quartzy (1999) Tanzanian actor

Source: Philosophies from an old Journal

“WHO WAS J. F. LEHMANN?
This book postulates that Adolf Hitler made a subtle, but all-important shift from proselytizing the myth of Germans as the oppressed victims of an “international Jewish conspiracy” to that of the superior race and oppressor because of J. F. Lehmann. It is not until after J. F. Lehmann brought Hitler the infamous Baur-Fischer-Lenz book on eugenics that Hitler’s speeches shifted from the stab-in-the-back myth, or the “Dolchstoßlegende,” with Germans as the oppressed victims of betrayal, to the eugenic propaganda of Germans as the pinnacle of white-supremacy. Weakness and superiority are incompatible attributes, and J. F. Lehmann is responsible for the shift away from the weakness inherent in victimhood to a racial superiority. Thus, it begs to question, who was this pivotal figure in Adolf Hitler's life, and why is his name and history not part of the commonly accepted history of The Holocaust? Nothing of The Holocaust or World War II can be understood without documenting who was Julius Friedrich Lehmann. Yet, J. F. Lehmann barely makes it onto the radar of even the most thorough books on the subject, and then only to name him as the person who delivered the Baur-Fischer-Lenz book to Adolf Hitler at Landsberg prison.”

A.E. Samaan

Source: From a "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848

Life, War, Books, World

“Evil is weak as long as enlightenment is powerful.”

Zafar Mirzo (1972)

Evil

“A self-aware person, who knows his strengths and weaknesses, has more than enough confidence to achieve what he wants. Even so, he does not need recognition from others. When he reaches his goal, recognition will come naturally.”

Titon Rahmawan

Confidence, Nature, Personality

“In love people often overlook flaws, dismiss weaknesses, and even forget mistakes. But when that feeling gradually diminishes and then leaves, they turn into a different person than they were before.”

Titon Rahmawan

Love, People, Feeling, Personality

“A manipulator knows how to capitalize on the strengths and weaknesses of others. They use deception to control others. To be able to avoid this trap, do not be easily lured by lures that sound very tempting before we actually test the reality.”

Titon Rahmawan

Reality

“Sometimes I feel so weak, so helpless. Not having enough strength to even sustain myself. But it was at such times that I realized the burden of my humanity. That without God I really have no meaning.”

Titon Rahmawan

God, Feeling, Time

“I know that our efforts all come to nothing. Analyze life, tear its trappings off, lay it bare with thought, with logic, with philosophy, and its emptiness is revealed as a bottomless pit; its nothingness frankly confesses to nothingness, and Despair comes to perch in the soulI know the end of us all is nothing, I know that at the end of Time, the reward of our toil will be nothing — and again nothing. I know that all our handiwork and all our ideas will be destroyed. I know that not even ash will be left from the fires that consume us. I know that our ideals, even those we achieve, will vanish in the eternal darkness of oblivion and final non-being. There is no hope, none, in my heart. I know, No promise, none, can I make to myself and to others. No recompense can I expect for my labors. No fruit will be born of my thoughts. I know the time — eternal seducer of all men, eternal cause of all effects — offers me nothing but the blank prospect of annihilation. So, my dignity is broken and weak, in recognition of my impending defeat.

The man who is alone, who stands on his own feet, who is stripped bare, who asks for nothing and wants nothing, who has reached the apex of disinterestedness not through blind renunciation but through excess of clear vision, turns to the world which stretches out before him as a burned prairie, as a devastated city — a world in which no churches, asylums, refuges, ideals, are left — and says: «Though you promise me nothing I am still with you, I am still an atom of your energies, my work is part of your work; I am your companion and your mirror as you march on your merciless way. But I owe nothing to any one. I would be responsible to freedom alone.”

Alexis Karpouzos (1967)

Source: https://alexiskarpouzos.medium.com/at-the-end-of-time-alexis-karpouzos-0b5a34cfbbe9

Life, Men, World, Hope

“If you're depressed or anxious, you're not weak and you're not crazy -- you're a human being with unmet needs.”

Johann Hari (1979) British journalist

“Never allow anyone the privilege of seeing you as fragile. There are people ready to help you everywhere and just as many parasites ready to take advantage of your weakness.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Non permettete mai a nessuno il privilegio di vedervi fragili. Ci sono persone pronte ad aiutarvi ovunque ed altrettanti parassiti pronti ad approfittare della vostra debolezza.
Source: prevale.net

People, Help

“Setting boundaries with some individuals is not selfishness or weakness, but a strategy of wisdom to protect one's emotional, physical and mental health.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Stabilire dei confini con alcuni individui non è egoismo o debolezza, ma una saggia strategia per proteggere la propria salute emotiva, fisica e mentale.
Source: prevale.net

Wisdom, Health, Selfishness

Quotes about weakness page 20

Quotes about weakness
page 20