When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name; the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. It shall exclude example and experience.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that true goodness and life come from a unique and personal journey, unfiltered by past experiences or societal examples.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote reflects the idea that the essence of goodness and vital life experiences are not found through imitation of others or established norms. Instead, they manifest as fresh encounters that are distinctively one’s own. Emerson invites us to embrace the unfamiliar and the novel aspects of our journey, suggesting that true fulfillment and understanding come from original thought and personal discovery rather than relying on past examples or societal expectations.
In practice
In a motivational speech about self-discovery, one might quote Emerson to reinforce the idea that true understanding comes from personal experience rather than societal norms.
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?
No alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility.
Money is like manure, its only good if you spread it around.
How much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant are the things that are honorable finally become, for you, the same.
As human beings we have unlimited potential and imagination. The worst thing you can do is be a conformist and buy into conformity. It's the worst possible thing. It's better to be outrageous. It's better to hang out with the sages, the people open to possibilities, even the psychotics. You never know where you'll find the geniuses of our society.
True will is quiet humility, resilience, and flexibility; the other kind of will is weakness disguised by bluster and ambition.
Women are like teabags. We don't know our true strength until we are in hot water!
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