Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.
Interpretation
Character and moral strength are more important than merely having intelligence.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes that true greatness lies in one's character, which shapes how we live and act, rather than just our intellectual capabilities. A person of strong character possesses the ability to think deeply and live a life of integrity, demonstrating that moral values are foundational to a fulfilling existence.
In practice
In a motivational speech about leadership, one might cite this quote to highlight the importance of integrity.
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?
The way you think, the way you behave, the way you eat, can influence your life by 30 to 50 years.
There is no man, however wise, who has not at some period of his youth said things, or lived in a way the consciousness of which is so unpleasant to him in later life that he would gladly, if he could, expunge it from his memory.
There is something even more valuable to civilization than wisdom, and that is character.
Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties.
It's better to be kind than to be right.
Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength.
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