If government knew how, I should like to see it check, not multiply, the population. When it reaches its true law of action, every man that is born will be hailed as essential.
Interpretation
Emerson advocates for a governance that cherishes the value of each individual's birth and contribution to society, rather than promoting an unchecked increase in population.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the importance of recognizing each individual's significance from the moment of birth. He critiques the idea of population growth as a mere statistic, suggesting that a wise government should instead cultivate an environment where each person is seen as essential to the fabric of society. Rather than simply multiplying numbers, the focus should be on nurturing the potential and contributions of every person, reflecting a deeper understanding of humanity's role in the world.
In practice
In a speech about sustainable development, one could quote Emerson to highlight the importance of valuing each individual's contribution to society.
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?
The grand delusion of contemporary liberals is that they have both the right and the ability to move their fellow creatures around like blocks of wood - and that the end results will be no different than if people had voluntarily chosen the same action
Christmas to a child is the first terrible proof that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.
Like all young men I set out to be a genius, but mercifully laughter intervened.
Sacrifice is truly the crowning test of the gospel. Men are tried and tested in this mortal probation to see if they will put first in their lives the kingdom of God.
I can't imagine not being in a phase where I'm trying to understand something or create something. That's the essence of life.
There is no coincidence. Only the illusion of coincidence.
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