No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no past at my back.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of curiosity and experimentation in the pursuit of knowledge without being bound by past experiences.
Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on the nature of knowledge and learning, suggesting that a true seeker of understanding should remain open-minded and willing to explore ideas without being limited by established beliefs or experiences. He advocates for a mindset that values experimentation and continuous inquiry, rather than adhering strictly to societal norms or previously accepted truths.
In practice
Using this quote in a lecture on the importance of scientific inquiry.
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?
Who knows himself a braggart, Let him fear this; for it will come to pass That every braggart will be found an ass.
The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you're finished.
I have met so many people who say they've got a book in them, but they've never written a word. To be a writer - this may seem trite, I realize - you have to actually write.
Never lie, never cheat, never steal.
Run my dear,_x000D_ From anything_x000D_ That may not strengthen_x000D_ Your precious budding wings.
This grieved me heartily ; and now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.
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