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 world is too brutal for me-I am glad there is such a thing as the grave-I am sure I shall never have any rest till I get there.
We prefer self-government with danger to servitude in tranquility.
Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.
The greatest task of democracy, its ritual and feast - is choice.
homesickness is just a state of mind for me. i'm always missing someone or someplace or something, i'm always trying to get back to some imaginary somewhere. my life has been one long longing.
Josh: So, Toby, itβs election night. What do you say about a country that goes out of its way to protect even those citizens that try to destroy it? Toby: God bless America.
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