Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
We men of study, whose heads are in our books, have need to be straightly looked after! We dream in our waking moments, and walk in our sleep.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the idea that those who are absorbed in academic pursuits often lose touch with reality and require guidance.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's quote emphasizes the plight of scholars and intellectuals who become so engrossed in their studies and books that they may neglect the practical realities of life. He illustrates how this deep engagement with academic pursuits can lead to a state of disconnection from the world around them, indicating that such individuals may need support and care to navigate life effectively.
In practice
Use this quote in a speech about the importance of balancing study and real-life experiences.
Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.
A bodily disease which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part.
All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent.
There is so much wretchedness in the world, that we may safely take the word of any mortal professing to need our assistance; and, even should we be deceived, still the good to ourselves resulting from a kind act is worth more than the trifle by which we purchase it.
Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart! Else it may be their miserable fortune, when some mightier touch than their own may have awakened all her sensibilities, to be reproached even for the calm content, the marble image of happiness, which they will have imposed upon her as the warm reality.
The thing you set your mind on is the thing you ultimately become.
Whether the author intended a symbolic resonance to exist in her book is irrelevant. All that matters is whether it's there. Because the book does not exist for the benefit of the author, the book exists for the benefit of YOU. If we as readers can have a bigger and richer experience with the world as a result of reading a symbol and that symbol wasn't intended by the author, WE STILL WIN.
Students and scholars of all kinds and of every age aim, as a rule, only at information, not insight. They make it a point of honour to have information about everything, every stone, plant, battle, or experiment and about all books, collectively and individually. It never occurs to them that information is merely a means to insight, but in itself is of little or no value.
I was never born to write. I was taught to write. And I am still being taught to write.
Most people won't realise that writing is a craft. You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else.
How can our kids really understand the moral complexities of being alive if they are not allowed to engage in those complexities outdoors?
Marriage can wait, education cannot.
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