His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the idea of forgiveness, emphasizing that a truly large heart cannot hold onto grudges or past wrongs.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on the nature of a loving and forgiving heart. He suggests that a heart capable of great love and compassion, akin to the vastness of the world, cannot find space for resentment or the memory of offenses. This speaks to the importance of letting go of past grievances in order to fully embrace love and positivity in life.
In practice
During a speech about personal growth, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of letting go of past hurts.
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?
I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want.
Look at this generation, with all of its electronic devices and multitasking. I will confidently predict less success than Warren, who just focused on reading.
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
If it turns out that there are emotions and values that are more numerous and more vibrant than indifference and hatred, things are going to be okay. That depends on us.
The masters of life know the way, for they listen to the voice within them, the voice of wisdom and simplicity, the voice that reasons beyond cleverness and knows beyond knowledge.
You know, I've learned a lot from every person I've collaborated with, from Madlib to Jean Grae and Hi-Tek, to Mos to DJ Quik, to even somebody like Jermaine Dupri. I've taken something important away from every experience.
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