We call those poets who are first to mark, Through earth's dull mist the coming of the dawn, Who see in twilight's gloom the first pale spark, While others only note that day is gone.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.Read
What a blessed thing it is, that Nature, when she invented, manufactured, and patented her authors, contrived to make critics out of the chips that were left!
Interpretation
This quote highlights the idea that nature creates a balance by allowing critics to emerge from its creations.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. suggests that nature's brilliance lies not only in its creations but also in its capacity to foster criticism. By saying that critics are made from the 'chips that were left,' he emphasizes that those who critique art, literature, or the natural world are a natural part of the creative process, contributing their perspectives and insights without being the originating creators themselves.
In practice
During a literary discussion, one might say this quote to emphasize the importance of critics in the artistic process.
We call those poets who are first to mark, Through earth's dull mist the coming of the dawn, Who see in twilight's gloom the first pale spark, While others only note that day is gone.
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other.
The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think.
Don't you stay at home of evenings? Don't you love a cushioned seat in a corner, by the fireside, with your slippers on your feet?
Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.
Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.
One thing I did was grow up as an ardent naturalist. I never grew out of my bug period.
The Fur Company may be called the exterminating medium of these wild and almost uninhabitable regions, which cupidity or the love of money alone would induce man to venture into. Where can I now go and find nature undisturbed?
Nature is full of freaks, and now puts an old head on young shoulders, and then takes a young heart heating under fourscore winters.
Our kinship with Earth must be maintained; otherwise, we will find ourselves trapped in the center of our own paved-over souls with no way out.
Take the crocodile, for example, my favorite animal. There are 23 species. Seventeen of those species are rare or endangered. They're on the way out, no matter what anyone does or says, you know.
Only nature knows how to justly proportion to the fault the punishment it deserves.
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