To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
We have no higher life that is really apart from other people. It is by imagining them that our personality is built up; to be without the power of imagining them is to be a low-grade idiot.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our sense of self is deeply connected to our relationships with others, and imagination plays a crucial role in shaping our identity.
Charles Horton Cooley emphasizes that an individual's higher life and personality are intrinsically linked to their relationships and interactions with others. He argues that the ability to imagine the experiences and emotions of others is vital for personal development, suggesting that a lack of empathy reduces a person's intellectual and emotional capacity.
Themes
IdentityEmpathyRelationshipsSelfImagination
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of community, one could quote this to emphasize the interconnectedness of individuals.
More from Charles Horton Cooley
All quotes →If we divine a discrepancy between a man's words and his character, the whole impression of him becomes broken and painful; he revolts the imagination by his lack of unity, and even the good in him is hardly accepted.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
The imaginations which people have of one another are the solid facts of society.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
Each man must have his I; it is more necessary to him than bread; and if he does not find scope for it within the existing institutions he will be likely to make trouble.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves but the imagined effect of this reflection upon another's mind.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
By recognizing a favorable opinion of yourself, and taking pleasure in it, you in a measure give yourself and your peace of mind into the keeping of another, of whose attitude you can never be certain. You have a new source of doubt and apprehension.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
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