And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep longing for knowledge and understanding, even if it leads to challenging or unattainable pursuits.
In this quote, Tennyson conveys the relentless search for knowledge and understanding that characterizes the human experience. The 'gray spirit' symbolizes a yearning soul, driven by desire, to pursue knowledge that often seems distant and elusive, akin to a 'sinking star.' This reflects the notion that the quest for intellectual enlightenment can be both inspiring and daunting, pushing boundaries beyond our current understanding.
In practice
This quote could inspire a group of students during a graduation speech, emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
I understand the law through the operation of which my own character is developed from my own acts and thoughts; therefore, I will guard with care all that goes into its development.
Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes. To think we have it is sure evidence that we don't.
I promise you that I did not become an addict because of anything to do with the behavior of either of my parents. Everybody has to make their own choices.
There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.
I often think I can see it in myself and in other young writers, this desperate desire to please coupled with a kind of hostility to the reader.
Do not confuse understanding with a larger vocabulary, sacred writings are beneficial in stimulating desire for inward realization, if one stanza at a time is slowly assimilated. Continual intellectual study results in vanity and the false satisfaction of an undigested knowledge.
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