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Albert Einstein quote - what does it mean?
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ellegarden



Joined: 01 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:33 pm    Post subject: Albert Einstein quote - what does it mean? Reply with quote

I got it from Express Yourself and I couldn't explain it properly to a student. I felt like a failure.

"The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives."

Does it mean that man can control the dramatic parts of his life? Man is in control of his sorrows? Man can push his sorrows away?
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mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First it's Albert Schweitzer:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_schweitzer.html

I think it means is maybe we start with such good intentions, dreams, innocence, and as we get older that dies.
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nate2008



Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Location: Daegu

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mindmetoo wrote:
First it's Albert Schweitzer:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_schweitzer.html

I think it means is maybe we start with such good intentions, dreams, innocence, and as we get older that dies.


Agreed. I don't think the "tragedy" has anything to do with drama or controlling anything.
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ellegarden



Joined: 01 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mindmetoo wrote:
First it's Albert Schweitzer:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_schweitzer.html

I think it means is maybe we start with such good intentions, dreams, innocence, and as we get older that dies.




http://www.quotesandpoem.com/quotes/showquotes/author/albert_einstein/5346

Maybe Einstein quoted from Schweitzer. Or my source is wrong because Schweitzer makes more sense.

So the tragedy of life part is referring to our good intentions,dreams and innocence?
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pootle



Joined: 05 May 2008

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:09 pm    Post subject: Albert Einstein quote - what does it mean? Reply with quote

The tragic thing about life is all the things that die inside us during our lives, eg imagination, love, hope, ideas etc. I think he was making the point that it's not our death that is the most tragic, but rather the 'death' of parts of us during our lives. If you see what I mean. Bit difficult to explain!
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ellegarden



Joined: 01 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Albert Einstein quote - what does it mean? Reply with quote

pootle wrote:
The tragic thing about life is all the things that die inside us during our lives, eg imagination, love, hope, ideas etc. I think he was making the point that it's not our death that is the most tragic, but rather the 'death' of parts of us during our lives. If you see what I mean. Bit difficult to explain!


Now I get it.

I was taking
"The tragedy of life" as a whole subject and reading it wrongly.

Thanks. I'll feel better now that I can explain it to my student even though she probably doesn't care.
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Thewhiteyalbum



Joined: 13 Nov 2008

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Agree wih all the above - but also things can die like our integrity, morals....we all sell our souls to a certain extent.
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Jeff's Cigarettes



Joined: 27 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

^Not exactly an Einstein, are you?
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Thewhiteyalbum



Joined: 13 Nov 2008

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, my parents were brother and sister - no need to be rude.. Crying or Very sad
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pkang0202



Joined: 09 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lots of things have died inside me. Parasites, viruses, bacteria, a few bugs I might've accidentally swallowed, plants, etc...
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nobbyken



Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Location: Yongin ^^

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pkang0202 wrote:
Lots of things have died inside me. Parasites, viruses, bacteria, a few bugs I might've accidentally swallowed, plants, etc...

....Your sense of humour?


Apologies, I jest you on a friday.
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D.D.



Joined: 29 May 2008

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

He means that people don't live up to their potential or share their true gifts.

They go about being average while their inner potential dies.
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ernie



Joined: 05 Aug 2006
Location: asdfghjk

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

agreed ^. or maybe he was referring to live octopii.

along the same lines, one of my favorite quotes ever:

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come". Julius Caesar (Act II, Scene II).
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BS.Dos.



Joined: 29 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What's 'inside' a man. It's your interpretation. Could be innocence, rationality, sense of optimism, dreams, wishes, hopes, faith et cetera.
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Girlygirl



Joined: 31 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think he was trying to imply that "It's a sad that we stop thinking while alive" It's sad that we live our lives passively; no passion/desire/ambition/imagination etc.
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