My life should be unique; it should be an alms, a battle, a conquest, a medicine.
Interpretation
Emerson emphasizes the importance of living a life that is distinctive and meaningful, encompassing struggles and triumphs.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote suggests that a truly fulfilling life is one that embraces uniqueness and purpose. He likens life to various forms of significance, such as an alms for others, a battle against challenges, a conquest of personal goals, and a medicine for the soul, indicating that life should be approached with a blend of generosity, struggle, achievement, and healing.
In practice
This quote can inspire students to pursue their passions distinctly.
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?
Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends.
Life's too short to hang out with people who aren't resourceful.
When I was going through my transition of being famous, I tried to ask God, why was I here? What was my purpose? Surely, it wasn't just to win three gold medals. There has to be more to this life than that.
Jumping from boulder to boulder and never falling, with a heavy pack, is easier than it sounds; you just can't fall when you get into the rhythm of the dance.
As there begins to be less time ahead of you, you want to be exactly who you are, without making it easier for everyone else.
I think of bad news as a huge bird, with the wings of a crow and the face of my Grade Four school teacher, sparse bun, rancid teeth, wrinkly frown, pursed mouth and all, sailing around the world under cover of darkness pleased to be the bearer of ill tidings, carrying a basket of rotten eggs, and knowing- as the sun comes up- exactly where to drop them. On me, for one.
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