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Men do less than they ought, unless they do all they can.
Thomas Carlyle
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Interpretation

What this quote means

People tend to do less than their potential unless they strive to do their best.

This quote by Thomas Carlyle suggests that individuals often fall short of what they are truly capable of unless they fully commit themselves to their efforts. It emphasizes the importance of maximizing one's potential and making the most of every opportunity, implying that true fulfillment comes from striving for excellence rather than merely doing the minimum.

Themes

EffortPotentialCommitmentSuccessExcellence

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech to encourage students to strive for their best in exams.

More from Thomas Carlyle

The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
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Thirty millions, mostly fools.
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There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
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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.
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Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
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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.
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