proverb · Legacy record
By overcoming his passions a person overcomes his greatest enemies.
By overcoming his passions a person overcomes his greatest enemies.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Passions as the greatest enemies place a person’s own impulses at the centre of a struggle for judgment. The saying values regulating a response rather than being ruled by it.
What the words are saying
The enemy metaphor is a value image, not a diagnosis or reason to reject all emotion. A useful interpretation can consider how to respond to a strong feeling without shaming it. External harms and support still matter, and inner restraint does not guarantee control of circumstances.
Everyday example
Someone acknowledges a strong emotion and chooses a considered response rather than treating the feeling itself as a moral failure.
When to use it
Use it to discuss response to emotion with dignity and external circumstances retained.
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What it does not mean
No clinical prescription or universal cause of difficulty within the person is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
Colombia
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.- Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 206; PDF page 25; collection label: Colombia
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- Colombia