Quote Discussion, Current quote: “The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.” page 9

The metaphor is too theoretical. You’ll never get to choose between having a very boring life for 100 years or a very eventful day while being in the spotlights. To make it a little more realistic, I’d rather spend 100 years on life with good friends, a good wife, a good family, while nobody really knows me, than 25 years with the last 5 years being pretty well-known in the world.

Originally posted by helltank:

Originally posted by Darkruler2005:

Sheep do not have a “decently happy life”. They lead the dullest of the dull lives in the animal kingdom.

I would say it’s fairly obvious we aren’t talking about the literal sheep here.

But surely the metaphor “sheep” is used for someone who has an exceptionally boring life, and not a normally boring life.

Normally boring…exceptionally boring. Entirely subjective….even though “sheep” most certainly IS USED to indicate a kind of “lack-lusterness”. However, I don’t see it as being “exceptional”.

Darkruler, once again, points out something I “went for” in an earlier post: MODERATION of a concept. He earlier mentioned life isn’t much like an ON & OFF situation. Now, he shows that “middle ground” in his above post.

This “either-or” proposition is a good start for setting some parameters to get some discussion going. BUT, let’s face it….those two specific “options” aren’t really very realistic.

P.S. Helltank, I hope it was alright for me to agree w/ Dark…..LOL

There is also one that goes “It is better to live like a hawk for a day than like a hen for a lifetime.”

Time for a new quote:

“A coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man dies but once.”

-William Shakespeare

A coward will be afraid and run away. Every time they face difficulty they will escape and will constantly face more difficulty and keep running away. A brave person will face the difficulty head on and will accomplish more in that one moment than a coward would by running away a thousand times.

Dart, you just summed up what I was going to say.

I have actually learned a lot while on this topic

Originally posted by Dartval:

Time for a new quote:

“A coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man dies but once.”

-William Shakespeare

A coward will be afraid and run away. Every time they face difficulty they will escape and will constantly face more difficulty and keep running away. A brave person will face the difficulty head on and will accomplish more in that one moment than a coward would by running away a thousand times.

Well said, new quote please?

You’re supposed to discuss it. My interpretation is just meant to start things off. Maybe I should put the quotes by themselves from now on and let someone else start off the discussion.

Originally posted by Dartval:

You’re supposed to discuss it. My interpretation is just meant to start things off. Maybe I should put the quotes by themselves from now on and let someone else start off the discussion.

You can still start things off, it is just that your explanation was good for this one but i can add on to it.
A coward can be also interpreted as the one who talks big but does nothing, the brave man is the one who is humble, but brave in the sense that when he is ask to do something, he will do it.

As said in Dune “Fear is the little death”. The coward spends so much time in fear that they never fully live. Every time they face a dangerous situation they “die” in that they experience the fear of death. Ruled by terror. The brave man only experiences the fear of death once, if that.

“Quite an experience to live in fear isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.” -Roy Batty, Blade Runner

New quote:

“Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.”

-Niccolo Machiavelli

Simply a “two-sided-coin” situtation.
Good hates Evil for its works.
Evil hates Good for its works.

No matter what you do, no matter what you say. Someone, somewhere, will not like you.

Originally posted by Klatoo:

No matter what you do, no matter what you say. Someone, somewhere, will not like you.

This is true.
If someone doesn’t “hate” ya,,,,
ya just aren’t much of a person.
A real person is most certainly going to be hated by some.

I need some suggestions for this thread.

Ephesians 5:22-24 is a good one, Dartval.

BoxBeat, if you can send me a message explaining why that doesn’t sound sexist, I’ll consider using it.

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For now, I have this:

“A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.”

-Napoleon Bonaparte

I’m not good at interpreting quotes, but I’ll see what I can do.

I believe this means that the actual position of a monarch is relatively meaningless, and it is the actions of the monarch that matters.

But I could be wrong.

The good/bad thing about quotes is that they can have different meanings and only create confusion. What I understand is that a person on a throne should not be held in higher regard than a person on a bench just because of that difference (and possibly the difference in income/wealth). I understand a biologist should be taken more seriously with claims about biology than a drunk, but this is not because of the biologist’s position, but because of the things he did within that position. This is somewhat similar to the above.

I see it as this; a throne is a symbol of high power. The bench represents a normal persons amount of power. The “velvet” simply is just something used to make another person look more special and/or powerful.

So what this means is that a high figure (Obama, Bush, etc.) is just another person that is given more choices (velvet) than another person without those choices (a bench).

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So just because Kim Kardashian is more famous than the homeless person that walks around collecting bottles doesn’t imply that we should care more about her than the latter.

I’ve actually been looking for quotes that are enigmatic enough to warrant interpretation and it’s pretty hard. Good work on finding so many Dartval. I like this thread because people come up with different interpretations and it’s interesting to me to see how two people can read the same thing and get completely different meanings that are both justified. I hope it can be kept alive.

I think this is another quote referring to ‘fine hat’ syndrome. When it comes down to it, a judge is a person in a black dress. A police officer is someone in a blue uniform. A throne is a nicely decorated chair. Don’t take authority too seriously, especially if you’re the one in the position of authority. You are not inherently superior because of a title, your title only holds power because other people allow it. Considering the author, I’d say it’s a reminder to himself that you have to work for it and the work never ends.

A throne is not more than velvet on a bench

A throne is where a person of power sits, not just some peasant or whoever. If you hold that throne, you hold power and that’s greatest of all back yonder days.

“A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.”

Supposing that “a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet” it matters not what it’s called but what it symbolizes for the common populace.

Originally posted by MooseDishes:

A throne is where a person of power sits, not just some peasant or whoever. If you hold that throne, you hold power and that’s greatest of all back yonder days.

Rasputin.

/argument

When you think about it, any political leader has exactly as much power as people believe he does…