Debt, grinding debt, whose iron face the widow, the orphan, and the sons of genius fear and hate; debt, which consumes so much time, which so cripples and disheartens a great spirit with cares that seem so base, is a preceptor whose lessons cannot be foregone, and is needed most by those who suffer from it most.
Interpretation
Debt is a burdensome force that affects people's lives deeply, teaching hard lessons to those who endure it.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on the oppressive nature of debt, portraying it as a serious issue that not only impacts the lives of individuals like widows and orphans but also stifles the creativity and potential of talented individuals. He suggests that while debt can be a harsh teacher, its lessons are particularly relevant to those who suffer from financial hardship, emphasizing its significant influence on human experience and the psyche.
In practice
During a financial seminar, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of understanding the impact of debt.
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?
At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our life, which is inaccessable to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us.
There will be justice," said Brutha. "If there is no justice, there is nothing.
The more he identifies with the dominant images of need, the less he understands his own life and his own desires. The spectacle’s estrangement from the acting subject is expressed by the fact that the individual’s gestures are no longer his own; they are the gestures of someone else who represents them to him.
We believe deep down that we've lost something precious and are seeking it outside ourselves, never realizing that we are carrying it within us wherever we go.
Wicked sons do not have the Holy Ghost in the same way as do beloved sons, and yet they do have Baptism. So, too, heretics do not have the Church as Catholics have, even though they have Baptism.
Injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.