The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
What is all Knowledge too but recorded Experience, and a product of History; of which, therefore, Reasoning and Belief, no less than Action and Passion, are essential materials?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge is derived from our recorded experiences and history, encompassing both reasoning and emotion.
In this quote, Thomas Carlyle emphasizes the idea that knowledge is not merely an abstract concept, but a composite of our experiences and historical context. He suggests that both rational thought and emotional responses, alongside our actions, play crucial roles in shaping our understanding of the world, highlighting the intricate relationship between knowledge and human experience.
Themes
KnowledgeExperienceHistoryReasoningBelief
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in an academic discussion on the nature of knowledge.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes βThirty millions, mostly fools.
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There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
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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.
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Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
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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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