Every man contemplates an angel in his future self.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that everyone envisions a better version of themselves as a goal to aspire to.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote reflects the idea that individuals often envision their ideal selves, which serves as both a source of inspiration and a motivating force in their lives. This 'angel' symbolizes the aspirations and potential we all see within ourselves, encouraging personal growth and the pursuit of excellence.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech to inspire self-reflection among the audience.
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?
I don't look at my old work. I mean, they made nice books; the books were made without me, the one from last year and the one from this year. I - personally, I'm not interested in my own past. I'm only interested in today - perhaps tomorrow.
The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.
I care only to know, if possible, the lasting meaning that lies in all religious doctrine from the beginning till now.
I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.
I am as certain as I am standing here, that the secret of much mischief to our own souls, and to the souls of others, lies in the way that we stint, and starve, and scamp our prayers, by hurrying over them.
One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word.
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