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?
Fortunately, problems are an everyday part of our life. Consider this: If there were no problems, most of us would be unemployed.
How many things have to happen to you before something occurs to you?
A man should remove not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for then superfluous activity will not follow.
I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.
It's easy to pretend expertise when there's no data to contradict you.
...and knowledge is one of the finest attributes of man - though often it is most loudly voiced by those who strive for it the least.
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