I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.
Interpretation
Books and experiences shape who we are, even if we don't recall every detail.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on the profound impact that reading and experiences have on our identity and personal growth. Just as we may not remember every meal we have eaten, the influence of the books we read and the knowledge we gain stays with us, molding our perspectives and character over time.
In practice
In a graduation speech about the importance of continuous learning.
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?
We have come into this exquisite world to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom and light!
Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion.
As soon as I observed myself from outside myself, I recognized and understood that I had a long-standing habit of keeping an eye on myself. That's how I managed to pull myself together, over the years, checking myself from the outside.
There are so many things that pop up. If you are paying attention, you can learn every second of the day. Life is my guru.
There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.
The cosmic humor is that if you desire to move mountains and you continue to purify yourself, ultimately you will arrive at the place where you are able to move mountains. But in order to arrive at this position of power you will have had to give up being he-who-wanted-to-move-mountains so that you can be he-who-put-the-mountain-there-in-the-first-place. The humor is that finally when you have the power to move the mountain, you are the person who placed it there--so there the mountain stays.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.