The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
All deep things are song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls!
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that music and song represent the core essence of human experience. Everything else is merely superficial in comparison.
Thomas Carlyle's quote reflects the idea that music is fundamental to the human experience, serving as a profound expression of our inner selves. He suggests that while life may be filled with various external forms and distractions, song captures our deepest emotions and essence. In this sense, song transcends mere entertainment, becoming a vital aspect of our identity and existence.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of art in education, one might say, 'As Carlyle reminds us, all deep things are song, highlighting the crucial role of music in expressing our inner selves.'
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes βThirty millions, mostly fools.
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
Similar quotes
The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and intense is his life, large-brained, large-lunged, hot, ecstatic, his frame charged with buoyancy and his heart with song.
I knew even if I'm a cowboy, I'm going to be involved in jazz in some way.
It was only after a while, after photographing mines and clear-cutting of forests in Maine, that I realized I was looking at the components of photography itself. Photography uses paper made from trees, water, metals, and chemistry. In a way, I was looking at all these things that feed into photography.
We should all develop the mind to rejoice in, praise and share in the gift of those who have artistic talents and a richness of heart, whether they achieve wide recognition or not. Cultivating such a beautiful mind is a very worthy effort. Culture and art are not just decorations. They are not just accessories. What matters is whether culture enriches the essential substance of our lives.
While writing 'Half of a Yellow Sun,' I enjoyed playing with minor things: inventing a train station in a town that has none, placing towns closer to each other than they are, changing the chronology of conquered cities. Yet I did not play with the central events of that time.
Deep Listening is listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing. Such intense listening includes the sounds of daily life, of nature, or one's own thoughts as well as musical sounds. Deep Listening represents a heightened state of awareness and connects to all that there is. As a composer I make my music through Deep Listening