It is easy to see that a greater self-reliance must work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men; in their religion; in their education; in their pursuits; their modes of living; their association; in their property; in their speculative views.
Interpretation
Greater self-reliance leads to transformative changes in all aspects of life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote emphasizes the importance of self-reliance as a foundational principle that can bring about significant change in various spheres of human activity. By advocating for individuals to depend on themselves, Emerson suggests that this trait can revolutionize personal relationships, educational systems, religious beliefs, and societal structures, promoting a more independent and fulfilling way of living.
In practice
A motivational speaker might use this quote during a seminar about personal growth.
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?
Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future. Solidarity involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground.
Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves.
We are travelers on a cosmic journey,stardust,swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
I'm always looking for things that are so incredibly present that they become invisible.
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
Monks are not expected to speak about themselves; the message is important, not the person.
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