To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
A man builds a house in England with the expectation of living in it and leaving it to his children; we shed our houses in America as easily as a snail does his shell.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote contrasts the permanence of homeownership in England with the transient nature of housing in America.
Harriet Beecher Stowe's quote highlights a cultural difference between England and America regarding the concept of home. In England, houses are seen as long-term investments and legacies to pass down to future generations, symbolizing stability and permanence. In contrast, Americans often view their homes as temporary, shedding them with ease, akin to a snail discarding its shell. This reflects broader values in both societies concerning roots, belonging, and the nature of material possessions.
Themes
HomePermanenceChangeCultureLegacy
In practice
Example use cases
In a real estate discussion about market trends and cultural values.
More from Harriet Beecher Stowe
All quotes βWhat's your hurry?" Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why doesn't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
It is generally understood that men don't aspire after the absolute right, but only to do about as well as the rest of the world.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
Death! Strange that there should be such a word, and such a thing, and we ever forget it; that one should be living, warm and beautiful, full of hopes, desires and wants, one day, and the next be gone, utterly gone, and forever!
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
Once, in an age, God sends to some of us a friend who loves in us, not a false imagining, an unreal character, but, looking through all the rubbish of our imperfections, loves in us the divine ideal of our nature, β loves, not the man that we are, but the angel that we may be.
Harriet Beecher StoweRead
Similar quotes
The hand descended. Nearer and nearer it came. It touched the ends of his upstanding hair. He shrank down under it. It followed down after him, pressing more closely against him. Shrinking, almost shivering. He still managed to hold himself together. It was a torment, this hand that touched him and violated his instinct. He could not forget in a day all the evil that had been wrought him at the hands of men.
Jack LondonRead
Justice is sweet and musical; but injustice is harsh and discordant.
Henry David ThoreauRead
So often we think that Allah only tests us with hardships, but this isn't true. Allah also tests with ease. He tests us with na`im (blessings) and with the things we love, and it is often in these tests that so many of us fail. We fail because when Allah gives us these blessings, we unwittingly turn them into false idols in the heart.
Yasmin MogahedRead
People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die.
PlatoRead
Treating an identity as an illness invites real illness to make a braver stand.
Andrew SolomonRead
Capitalism has created the highest standard of living ever known on earth. The evidence is incontrovertible. The contrast between West and East Berlin is the latest demonstration, like a laboratory experiment for all to see. Yet those who are loudest in proclaiming their desire to eliminate poverty are loudest in denouncing capitalism. Man's well-being is not their goal.
Ayn RandRead