You may not, cannot, appropriate beauty. It is the wealth of the eye, and a cat may gaze upon a king.
Interpretation
Beauty cannot be owned or claimed; it belongs to everyone and can be appreciated by anyone.
This quote by Theodore Parker emphasizes that beauty is an intrinsic quality present in the world that cannot be monopolized or claimed by individuals. It suggests that beauty is universal and accessible to all, regardless of their status or identity, as illustrated by the metaphor of a humble cat gazing at a king, reminding us that the appreciation of beauty transcends social hierarchies.
In practice
In a speech about art appreciation, one might say, 'As Theodore Parker reminds us, beauty is universal; it belongs to all of us.'
A democracy,- that is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.
Want and wealth equally harden the human heart, as frost and fire are both alien to the human flesh. Famine and gluttony alike drive away nature from the heart of man.
The books which help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is by easy reading; every man that tries it finds it so. But a great book that comes from a great thinker, β it is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth, with beauty too.
No man is so great as mankind.
Outward judgment often fails, inward judgment never.
Let us do our duty in our shop or our kitchen, in the market, the street, the office, the school, the home, just as faithfully as if we stood in the front rank of some great battle, and knew that victory for mankind depended on our bravery, strength, and skill. When we do that, the humblest of us will be serving in that great army which achieves the welfare of the world.
I've read a lot of really great characters in some really crappy stories, where I said, like, 'Boy I could shine here, but the story sucks.' I don't want to be part of that.
The work of art assumes the existence of the perfect spectator, and is indifferent to the fact that no such person exists.
...the moon that hung over the garden like some great priceless pearl, flawed and blemished with grey shadowy ridges as only a very great beauty can risk being.
At root, a pearl is a 'disturbance' a beauty caused by something that isn't supposed to be there, about which something needs to be done. It is the interruption of equilibrium that creates beauty. Beauty is a response to provocation, to intrusion. ... The pearl's beauty is made as a result of insult.
Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.
Any good story can galvanize a person, make him/her think about things a different way, reassess their own motives and needs, but that's never my intent. That's an unintended consequence of me just trying to entertain, to write what we used to call 'ripping yarns.'
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