Know, thou, that the lines that live are turned out of a furrowed brow.
Interpretation
True creativity often stems from hard work and introspection.
In this quote, Herman Melville suggests that the lines of wisdom and understanding are shaped not by mere chance but rather by the struggles and efforts of individuals, symbolized by the 'furrowed brow.' This indicates that deep thought, experience, and labor contribute to one's insights and the depth of one's character, emphasizing the idea that wisdom is earned through life's challenges.
In practice
A speaker at a graduation ceremony might use this quote to emphasize the importance of perseverance in achieving success.
A good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good thing; the more's the pity. So, if any one man, in his own proper person, afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let him cheerfully allow himself to spend and be spent in that way. And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think for.
The Marquesan girls dance all over; not only do their feet dance, but their arms, hands, fingers, ay, their very eyes seem to dance in their heads.
Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.
Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.
If some books are deemed most baneful and their sale forbid, how then with deadlier facts, not dreams of doting men? Those whom books will hurt will not be proof against events. Events, not books should be forbid.
You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world.... We are not a nation, so much as a world.
I don't journal to 'be productive.' I don't do it to find great ideas or to put down prose I can later publish. The pages aren't intended for anyone but me. It's the most cost-effective therapy I've ever found.
I've never known, at least a modern historical instance, where the truth wasn't superior to distortion in every way.
The doctrines of grace humble man without degrading him and exalt him without inflating him.
We are far more than our bodies and personalities. The inner spirit is always beautiful and lovable, no matter how our outer appearances may change.
Beware of those who would use violence, too often it is violence they want and neither truth nor freedom.
Your past is important but it is not nearly as important to your present as the way you see your future.
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