Friday 23 November 2012

Weekend Quote #20


“O, then we bring forth weeds
When our quick minds lie still, and our ills told us
Is as our earing.”

I know I have mentioned this quote in my review of Antony and Cleopatra's first act, but I love to look closer to it and specifically write what I think about this sentence.

Antony likens an idle mind to an uncultivated land. A land uncultivated is a fertile medium for weeds to grow, and weed is not useful at all for food or market. Therefore Antony compare his faults with weeds, that grow much when he is idling in Egypt with Cleopatra.

I'd like to point out that as a fertile land cannot be fully unused, the human mind cannot be fully unemployed. You cannot ask someone NOT to think. It's human nature to do so. But it will be useful to look at what lies in our mind and what comes out of it. Is it weed, or is it grain? It's better to use our brains for something beneficial rather than just let it become idle and grow 'weed', both in mind and deed, right?

Antony also says that when our mistakes is shown to us, its like an 'earing'. It means that like weeds in a land can be removed by ploughing it, we can remove our faults easier when somebody points them out to us. The problem is, how do we respond when somebody gives us advice?

Antony is a great example. He says it clearly that he accepts correction, critics and advice from people, even from his subordinate. He realises that such correction will bring him much benefit. Not all advice is good, but at least listening to it, we can see some of the things lacking in us, and we can do something to make ourselves better.

That's my quote for this weekend. What about yours?

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