Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
I wonder that we Americans love our country at all, it having no limits and no oneness; and when you try to make it a matter of the heart, everything falls away except one's native State; -neither can you seize hold of that, unless you tear it out of the Union, bleeding and quivering.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the complexities of American national identity and emotional attachment to one’s native state.
Nathaniel Hawthorne muses on the paradox of American patriotism, noting how the vast and diverse nature of the country makes it difficult to feel a singular, heartfelt connection. He suggests that one's true sense of belonging can often be tied to a specific location, which may clash with the concept of a unified nation, ultimately portraying a struggle between personal loyalty and national identity.
In practice
During a speech about national unity, one might reflect on the personal nature of state connections using this quote.
Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.
A bodily disease which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part.
All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent.
There is so much wretchedness in the world, that we may safely take the word of any mortal professing to need our assistance; and, even should we be deceived, still the good to ourselves resulting from a kind act is worth more than the trifle by which we purchase it.
Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart! Else it may be their miserable fortune, when some mightier touch than their own may have awakened all her sensibilities, to be reproached even for the calm content, the marble image of happiness, which they will have imposed upon her as the warm reality.
The thing you set your mind on is the thing you ultimately become.
Records told the same tale, then the lie passed into history and became truth.
The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity.
The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him.
'Useful,' and 'necessity' was always 'the tyrant's plea'.
There is no reason for believing that any sort of gods exist, and quite good reasons for believing that they do not exist and never have. It has all been a gigantic waste of time and a waste of life. It would be a joke of cosmic proportions if it weren't so tragic.
To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.
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