The Nine Pillars of Wisdom

Jean-Pierre Maurice

Description

To be a little wiser. To know what we want from life, and to get it. To find happiness. These ordinary, honest aspirations often remain unfulfilled – usually because we don’t know which path to follow, which cards to play, but also because we don’t truly believe in ourselves. So which thread should we follow to lead us out of the labyrinth? For Jean-Pierre Maurice, the answer is to draw inspiration from those who came before us – the words and ideas they left behind, those truths that have come down to us through the ages. From Epicurus to Abraham Lincoln, from Socrates to Aimé Césaire, you will find here many words that have the power to transform your life, to redefine the way you look at the world... Accompanied by the author, this book will teach you the nine fundamental rules that will enable you to find serenity.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Développement personnel
• développement personnel
• Santé
• Pratique
• Bien-être
• Philosophy
• Philosophers

Informations

• Publié par: Société des écrivains
• Date de parution: 12 avril 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782342003918
• Langue: Français

Extrait

The Nine Pillars of Wisdom
Jean-Pierre Maurice
Société des écrivains

Le Code de la propriété intellectuelle interdit les copies ou reproductions destinées à une utilisation collective. Toute représentation ou reproduction intégrale ou partielle faite par quelque procédé que ce soit, sans le consentement de l’auteur ou de ses ayants cause, est illicite et constitue une contrefaçon sanctionnée par les articles L 335-2 et suivants du Code de la propriété intellectuelle.


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Introduction
 
 
 
Dear reader,
 
Creating this little book was a challenge, as many books and collections of quotations have already been written on this subject.
 
This book, which I wrote for you, is not scholar’s book, but rather simple and practical work. It addresses to everyone, men or women, young people or old people, parents or teenagers, adults or seniors. They will find the assistance of these thinkers and these philosophers there who, since the Antiquity, showed their courage in front of difficult circumstances and let us in heritage their will and the mean to take the best part of things.
 
This book offers you the treasure, not of 1001 thoughts, nor 365 meditations, but a world tour, in 60 quotations, of the human wisdom. An « instructions for use » of the work will help you to take advantage of this will which will doubtless drive you to discover that these invaluable virtues also exist in you.
 
You will emerge enriched and strengthened. And you will have gained a traveling companion.
 
I hope you enjoy this book – and the rest of your life!
Jean-Pierre Maurice
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In the Footsteps of Great Men
 
 
 
In the Footsteps of Great Men
 
 
 
According to an old proverb, experience is a flame that lights the way only for he who possesses it. And it’s often true that life and time bring to each of us a measure of maturity and seriousness.
But, if you think about it, is it really necessary to wait for the years to pass before you can learn and put into practice life’s great lessons? Can we only acquire experience through making our own mistakes? He who learns young that experience eats up his life will have saved a lot of time!
 
So why does each generation try to reinvent what constitutes the very essence of life? Those who decide to walk in the footsteps of great men are promised a better, happier life, instead of ‘Ah, if only…’.
 
To illustrate this, I have chosen for you, dear reader, nine great men from among those whose thoughts are collected in this book. From Socrates to Lincoln, these authors have left writings and quotations that will guide you through life.
 
As they’re presented here, each of these great men embodies a human value, a step towards success, a link in the chain of human progress.
 
 
 
William Shakespeare
1564-1616
 
 
 
Our path, taking in a few of those great men who left behind them something useful for humanity, begins with Shakespeare.
 
Considered the greatest playwright in Anglo-Saxon culture, William Shakespeare was from a bourgeois family in Stratford-upon-Avon. His situation was comfortable enough that he was able to study for a few years before marrying in haste. He is presumed to have moved to London in 1588, though that period of his life remains mysterious for historians, who do not rediscover his scent until 1592, when he is first mentioned in theatrical chronicles.
 
The author of a unique and timeless body of work, he wrote about power games and human passions. Though best known for his tragedies, Romeo and Juliet , Hamlet and Macbeth , Shakespeare also deployed his talents on comedies and history plays. The subtlety and sophistication of his plots made William Shakespeare’s work a monument of literature which still inspires writers and artists today.
 
Shakespeare’s drama constitutes a vast study of man and contains within it deep reserves of wisdom. And buried like pearls in its lines are innumerable expressions embodying all the great principles of life. Each of us must discover the key to their meaning.
 
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
With this quotation from S hakespeare, we get straight to the heart of the subject: what counts in life is, primarily, the way we see things. Like the glass that we might see as being ‘half-full’ or ‘half-empty’, it is our thoughts that guide us toward sadness or hope, toward despair or success.
Shakespeare represents here a link in the chain of great, inspired men, and he left humanity this knowledge, this essential maxim that can be summarised thus: I will choose the positive vision of life.
 
 
 
La Fontaine
1621-1695 / French poet
 
 
 
Though famous for his fables featuring animals – such as ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’ – and ending with morals like ‘We always need someone smaller than ourselves’, La Fontaine also wrote a few stories about men – and it is from one of these, ‘The Carter in the Mire’, that I have taken a quotation.
 
A man is driving a cart, the wheels of which become stuck in a muddy path. Our hero becomes annoyed, and believes himself unlucky; despairingly, he appeals to God. So it is that he hears a voice say...