The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Not our Logical, Mensurative faculty, but our Imaginative one is King over us; I might say, Priest and Prophet to lead us heavenward; or Magician and Wizard to lead us hellward.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Imagination guides human behavior and destiny more than logic.
In this quote, Thomas Carlyle asserts that it is not our rational and measurable thought processes that predominantly dictate our lives, but rather our imagination. He suggests that imagination can elevate us towards nobility and purpose, or conversely lead us astray into chaos and despair, emphasizing its powerful role in shaping our journeys and ideologies.
Themes
ImaginationLogicLifeDestinyPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech to highlight the importance of creativity in solving problems.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes →Thirty 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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