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.
Any time is the time to make a poem.
Most poets are young simply because they have not been caught up. Show me an old poet, and I'll show you, more often than not, either a madman or a master... it's when you begin to lie to yourself in a poem in order simply to make a poem that you fail. That is why I do not rework poems.
Analysis I take to be a scientific procedure. What I do is creative. It doesn't spring from the same part of the mind.
If I choose to write about sheep, it's just because I happened to write about sheep. There is no deep significance.
Much of songwriting is simply a mystery.
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.
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