The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Setting goals provides direction and purpose, just as a rudder steers a ship.
This quote by Thomas Carlyle emphasizes the importance of having clear goals in life. Without goals, an individual lacks direction, much like a ship adrift at sea without a rudder, which would metaphorically lead to aimless wandering and an inability to reach any desired destination.
Themes
GoalsDirectionLifePurposeMotivation
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech to encourage students to set objectives for their future.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes βThirty 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
Similar quotes
Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start.
Simon SinekRead
I get up early in the morning, 4 o'clock, and I sit at my desk and what I do is just dream. After three or four hours, that's enough. In the afternoon, I run.
Haruki MurakamiRead
When seen up close, dangers are controllable: when you begin to climb the mountain of your dreams, pay attention to the surroundings. There are cliffs, of course. There are almost imperceptible cracks in the mountain rock. There are stones so polished by storms that they have become as slippery as ice. But if you know where you are placing each footstep, you will notice the traps and how to get around them.
Paulo CoelhoRead
When you raise your opinion of yourself and what you are capable of it has a decided influence on what you do.
Robert GreeneRead
If you start focusing on the next job, then you're probably not going to do the one you have very well.
William H. McravenRead
I don't want to be someone's reason to hate their life. I want to be someone's reason to seek something more in their life.
Nick VujicicRead