'It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action.' (p. 8)
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Action and manner of belief matter more than the specific content of what one believes.
- In plain terms
- How you act on your beliefs matters more than the beliefs themselves.
- What can you take from it?
- Action defines belief more than the belief content.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Do your actions match your beliefs?
- Which matters more, faith or works?
Another view
The content of belief can still determine moral direction.
More from Lin Yutang
'...in the West, the insane are so many that they are put in an asylum, in China the insane are so unusual that we worship them . . . .' (p. 3)
Permalink to quote #2 'A reasonable naturalist then settles down to this life with a sort of animal satisfaction. As Chinese illiterate women put it, 'Others gave birth to us and we…
Permalink to quote #4 '...it is not when he is working in his office but when he is lying idly on the sand that his soul utters, 'Life is beautiful.'' (p. 2)
Permalink to quote #1
Related quotes
All religion relates to life, and the life of religion is to do good.
Emanuel SwedenborgEmanuel Swedenborg quote #3 His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might Be wrong; his life, I 'm sure, was in the right.
Abraham CowleyAbraham Cowley quote #7 What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.
John RuskinJohn Ruskin quote #9