Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently inviting him thither to endless exertion. He is like a ship in the river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an infinite sea.
Interpretation
Everyone has a unique purpose and talent that guides them towards their true path in life.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the importance of recognizing and following one's unique vocation or calling. He suggests that every person has inherent talents that, when discovered and pursued, lead to a fulfilling life where obstacles are minimized in the pursuit of one’s passion, much like a ship navigating towards an unobstructed channel leading into the vast ocean of possibilities.
In practice
In a motivational speech aimed at graduates, this quote can inspire them to pursue their individual paths.
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?
There is only one you. God wanted you to be you. Don't you dare change just because you're outnumbered!
A genius is simply one who has taken full possession of his own mind and directed it toward objectives of his own choosing, without permitting outside influences to discourage or mislead him.
In a life and death struggle, we cannot afford to leave our destinies in the hands of failures.
Our best evidence of what people truly feel and believe comes less from their words than from their deeds.
There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation.
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