The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being unaware of one's own shortcomings is a significant flaw.
In this quote, Thomas Carlyle emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and humility. He suggests that the greatest fault a person can possess is the inability to recognize their own mistakes or limitations, implying that self-reflection is crucial for personal growth and integrity.
Themes
Self-AwarenessHumilityGrowthReflectionFaults
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal development, one might reference this quote to highlight the importance of recognizing one's weaknesses.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes βThirty millions, mostly fools.
Thomas CarlyleRead
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
Thomas CarlyleRead
For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
Thomas CarlyleRead
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My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
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I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living. All great enterprises are self-supporting. The poet, for instance, must sustain his body by his poetry, as a steam planing-mill feeds its boilers with the shavings it makes. You must get your living by loving.
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