A man is a god in ruins. When men are innocent, life shall be longer, and shall pass into the immortal, as gently as we awake from dreams.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that human potential is often marred by suffering and loss, yet in innocence, life can be enriched and beautiful.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote reflects on the duality of human existence, comparing humans to 'gods in ruins' which implies that while we hold immense potential and greatness, our flaws and experiences of suffering often diminish that potential. Emerson suggests that in states of innocence, life can be profound and transcendent, allowing us to navigate our existence with a grace similar to waking from a dream, emphasizing the beauty of pure and unblemished life experiences.
In practice
In a graduation speech emphasizing the potential of youth and the importance of innocence.
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?
Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue.
Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary.
No human being should ever have to fear for his own life because of political or religious beliefs. We are all in this together, my friends, the rich, the poor, the red, white, black, brown and yellow. We share responsibility for Mother Earth and those who live and breathe upon her ..never forget that.
One can no more have a private religion than one can have a private sun or a private moon.
Return to Shaoshan I regret the passing, the dying, of the vague dream: my native orchards thirty-two years ago. Yet red banners roused the serfs, who seized three-pronged lances when the warlords raised whips in their black hands. We were brave and sacrifice was easy and we asked the sun, the moon, to alter the sky. Now I see a thousand waves of beans and rice and am happy. In the evening haze heroes are coming home.
When you and I hurt deeply, what we really need is not an explanation from God but a revelation of God. We need to see how great God is; we need to recover our lost perspective on life. Things get out of proportion when we are suffering, and it takes a vision of something bigger than ourselves to get life's dimensions adjusted again
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