Every man is a borrower and a mimic, life is theatrical and literature a quotation.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that humans inherently take from others while trying to navigate life, which is like a performance, heavily influenced by existing works.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote reflects the idea that individuals are not original creators but rather borrowers of thoughts and experiences. He implies that life itself is akin to a play where people imitate others, and literature serves as a compendium of borrowed ideas and expressions. This highlights the interconnectedness of human experiences and the notion that our actions and creations are often influenced by those who came before us, challenging the idea of absolute originality.
In practice
In a speech about creativity, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of drawing inspiration from past works.
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?
Everything considered, work is less boring than amusing oneself.
I feel, am mad as any writer must in one way be; why not make it real? I am too close to the bourgeois society of suburbia: too close to people I know I must sever my self from them, or be a part of their world: this half and half compromise is intolerable.
It is inconceivable that the God who gives Himself in His Son to save us, should have created some people ordained to evil and damnation. There can only be one predestination to salvation. In and through Jesus Christ all people are predestined to be saved. Our free choice is ruled out in this regard. God wants free people, except in relation to this last and definitive decision. We are not free to decide and choose to be damned.
My only fear of death is reincarnation
It is not the being seen of men that is wrong, but doing these things for the purpose of being seen of men. The problem with the hypocrite is his motivation.
It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid?
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