It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
Interpretation
True greatness lies in maintaining one’s individuality amidst societal pressures.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote emphasizes the challenge of preserving one's independence of thought and spirit while being surrounded by societal norms and expectations. Living according to the opinions of others may be straightforward, and solitude allows for personal truth, but true greatness emerges when one can balance these forces and remain true to oneself even in the company of many. It celebrates the strength required to uphold one's individuality and values in the face of external pressures.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech aimed at young leaders about staying true to their values.
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?
Man is not interesting without some imperfection
I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
According to Maslow, I was stuck on the second level of the pyramid, unable to feel secure in my health and therefore unable to reach for love and respect and art and whatever else, which is, utter horseshit: The urge to make art or contemplate philosophy does not go away when you are sick. Those urges just become transfigured by illness. Maslow's pyramid seemed to imply I was less human than other people, and most people seemed to agree with him.
There is no space in which worship should not take place, no time when it should not occur, and no activity through which it should not happen.
The true end of tragedy is to purify the passions.
Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
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