If you are distressed by anything external, the pain isnot due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you havethe power to revoke at any moment.
In oneof our concert grand pianos, 243 taut strings exert a pull of 40,000 poundson an iron frame. It is proof that out of great tension may come greatharmony.
Peaceis not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives forresponding to conflict alternatives to passive or aggressive responses,alternatives to violence.
Compromise,n. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary thesatisfaction of thinking he has got what he ought not to have, and isdeprived of nothing except what was justly his due.
To startblindly with a statement is a sign of arrogance and narrow-mindedness, andwill lead to conflict. To start blindly with a question is a sign ofuncertainty and honesty, and will lead to wisdom.
