Of diligence, not driving

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NL888

#475485 Mon, 11 Feb 08 03:21 AM

True discipline achieves a balance by producing-not pushing; of diligence, not driving = True discipline achieves a balance by producing-not pushing; true discipline achieves a balance of diligence, not driving?

NL888

Joined on Fri, Oct 5 2007

Full Member (374)

High mind turns the grace of the universe as the glory of your life.

Avangi

#475514 Mon, 11 Feb 08 05:20 AM

I can't say I've seen the semi-colon used quite that way - maybe it's a strong dash instead of a strong comma. I believe your analysis is correct.

Why he uses a dash in the P not P case and a comma in the D not D case is beyond me. (He's running out of options!)

Avangi

Joined on Mon, Nov 19 2007

Senior Member (3,818)

". . . le plaisir delicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." - Henri de Regnier

Colons, Commas

khoff

#475540 Mon, 11 Feb 08 07:32 AM

NL888

True discipline achieves a balance by producing-not pushing; of diligence, not driving = True discipline achieves a balance by producing-not pushing; true discipline achieves a balance of diligence, not driving?

(:^)) Huh? What is the sentence from? The way it is written, with the non-parallel constructions using first "by" and then "of", is very confusing. I suppose your interpretation is a reasonable way of understanding the construction of the sentence. However, although I can find some meaning in "true discipline achieves a balance by producing -- not pushing", I have no idea what it means to say "true discipline achieves a balance of diligence, not driving." What is a balance of diligence? What is a balance of driving? Are you sure the original quote did not have another "by" in place of the "of"? Then it would make a bit more sense.

khoff

Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005

Denver, Colorado, USA, Earth

Senior Member (2,616)

Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

Constructions

NL888

#475556 Mon, 11 Feb 08 09:34 AM

I've carefully checked out the context in the book From Success to Significance by Richard Carswell. More context:

(The Discipline Factor)

Achieving a balance, is the ideal. Never confuse discipline rigidity. True discipline achieves a balance by producing-not pushing; of diligence, not driving. Even discipline needs to be disciplined. Balance hard work and discipline, with leisure and recreation time. This will cause a surge in creativity. For example, Einstein's Theory of Relativity was discovered while he was daydreaming.

NL888