Good bye, proud world! I'm going home; Thou art not my friend, and I'm not thine
Interpretation
The quote expresses a rejection of worldly values and a desire to return to a more authentic self.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson conveys a profound sense of disillusionment with the superficiality of the material world. By declaring 'Good bye, proud world,' he suggests that he no longer finds solace or companionship in societal expectations and external validations, instead opting to reconnect with his inner self and true home. This poignant statement reflects a philosophical stance that values personal integrity and authenticity over the approval of the outside world.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of self-discovery.
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?
All the persons of faith I know are sinners, doubters, uneven performers. We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us.
My diary seems to keep me whole.
It was both odd and unjust, a real example of pitiful arbitrariness of existance, that you were born into a particular time & held prisoner there whether you wanted it or not. It gave you an indecent advantage over the past and made you a clown vis-a-vis the future.
People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a "have" type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a "have not" type of self.
Nevertheless, it is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.
Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He'll break before he bends. And Renly, that one, he's copper, bright and shiny, pretty to look at but not worth all that much at the end of the day.
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