Man makes holy what he believes as he makes beautiful what he loves.
Interpretation
Our beliefs and loves shape our perceptions of holiness and beauty.
This quote by Ernest Renan suggests that individuals have the power to transform their beliefs and passions into sacredness and aesthetic appreciation. It emphasizes the idea that what we hold dear—what we love and believe—defines our understanding of holiness, infusing the mundane with meaning and beauty through our subjective experiences and perspectives.
In practice
In a speech on personal values, one might use this quote to illustrate how our beliefs shape our realities.
None of the miracles with which ancient histories are filled, occurred under scientific conditions. Observation never once contradicted, teaches us that miracles occur only in periods and countries in which they are believed in and before persons disposed to believe in them.
Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation.
When people complain of life, it is almost always because they have asked impossible things of it.
He whom God has touched will always be a being apart: he is, whatever he may do, a stranger among men; he is marked by a sign.
Let us remember that sorrow alone is the creator of great things.
The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true.
The chief problem about death ... is the fear that there may be no afterlife - a depressing thought.
So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost;Evil,be thou my good.
I feel like the Internet needs to be disarmed in some way. There needs to be a philosophical undermining of the Internet. We take it too seriously and too literally. For a reference we go to Wikipedia, which is full of inaccuracies and misinformation. It's kind of beautiful - it's all the product of imagination; it's not reality at all.
Man often becomes what he believes himself to be.
It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.
There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness or death. Any attempt to prove otherwise constitutes unacceptable behavior.
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