To have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation - this to to have succeeded.
Interpretation
Success is defined by the joy and enthusiasm experienced in activities, rather than by traditional accomplishments.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that true success lies in the joy and enthusiasm one experiences while engaging in life's activities. Rather than measuring success by conventional standards such as wealth or status, Emerson emphasizes the importance of finding joy in playing, laughing, and singing, highlighting that these moments of passion and happiness are what truly define a successful life.
In practice
During a graduation speech, this quote could inspire students to pursue their passions over conventional measures of success.
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?
Maximum growth and high ideals are not incompatible. Theyβre inseparable.
A startup is the largest endeavor over which you can have definite mastery. You can have agency not just over your own life, but over a small and important part of the world. It begins by rejecting the unjust tyranny of Chance. You are not a lottery ticket.
We were the first generation to have to deal with the modern stardom of football. Some handled it better than others.
Success isn't owned. It's leased and rent is due every day.
Growing up, people will tell you that you have a better chance to become an astronaut than becoming an NBA player. So when you finally get to the NBA, you've beat the odds. So when you put on that jersey, everything else is downhill.
To fulfil the dreams of one's youth; that is the best that can happen to a man. No worldly success can take the place of that.
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