The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
In idleness there is a perpetual despair.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Idleness leads to a state of constant unhappiness and hopelessness.
This quote by Thomas Carlyle reflects the idea that inactivity or idleness fosters a sense of despair. When one is not engaged in meaningful activities, it can lead to a lingering feeling of hopelessness and dissatisfaction with life, suggesting that action and purpose are essential for mental well-being.
Themes
IdlenessDespairActionPurposeHappiness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a motivational speech to encourage people to stay active and engaged.
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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Suppose, my dear Chadd, suppose it is we who are the idiots because we are not afraid of devils in the dark?
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Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion a child's loss of a doll and a king's loss of a crown are events of the same size.
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Then she told me why a tiger is gold and black. It has two ways. The gold side leaps with its fierce heart. The black side stands still with cunning, hiding its gold between the trees, seeing and not being seen, waiting patiently for things to come. I did not learn to use my black side until after the bad man left me.
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You must not do, you must not even try to do, the will of the Father unless you are prepared to 'know of the doctrine'.
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