There is always room for a man of force and he makes room for many. Society is a troop of thinkers and the best heads among them take the best places.
Interpretation
Strong individuals can create opportunities for themselves and others in society.
Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on the nature of leadership and influence within society, suggesting that those who possess strength of character and intellect will find their place among the best thinkers. Furthermore, such individuals not only carve out their own paths but also open doors for others, enriching the collective thinking of their community.
In practice
In a motivational speech about leadership at a corporate event.
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
I'm always amazed that people will actually choose to sit in front of the television and just be savaged by stuff that belittles their intelligence.
There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.
The richest people in the world aren't particularly smart or happy. And the happiest people in the world aren't particularly smart or rich.… That leaves me making music. But we can't talk about that.
Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss.
I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of me.
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