The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
The end of man is action, and not thought, though it be of the noblest.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Action is more important than thought, even if that thought is noble.
Thomas Carlyle emphasizes that the ultimate purpose of humanity is to take action rather than merely contemplate ideas, regardless of how noble those ideas may be. This suggests that thought alone is insufficient; it is through action that we can create change and impact the world around us.
Themes
ActionThoughtNobilityPhilosophyChange
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech to encourage people to take initiative.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes →Thirty millions, mostly fools.
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There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
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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.
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Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
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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.
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