There are men too superior to be seen except by a few, as there are notes too high for the scale of most ears.
Interpretation
Only a select few can recognize the true greatness in others, just as only certain notes can be perceived by trained ears.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote suggests that true excellence and superiority often go unnoticed by the majority of people, similar to how only a few people can hear the highest musical notes. This highlights the idea that greatness can exist beyond the understanding or awareness of the general population, and it requires a discerning eye or ear to recognize such exceptional qualities in individuals.
In practice
During a speech on leadership, you might say, 'As Ralph Waldo Emerson noted, there are men too superior to be seen except by a few.'
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
In a man's middle years there is scarcely a part of the body he would hesitate to turn over to the proper authorities.
What is there in life if you do not work? There is only sensation, and there are only a few sensations— you cannot live on them. You can only live on work, by work, through work. How can you live with self-respect if you do not do things as well as lies in you?
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness? You only truly, deeply appreciate and are grateful for something when you compare and contrast it to something worse.
Correct meditation means correctly understanding your situation moment by moment - what are you doing now? Only do it! Then, each action is complete; each action is enough. Then no thinking, so each moment I can perceive everything just like this.
I let go of all expectations. People, places and things are free to be themselves, and I am free to be me.
It seems wisest to assume the worst from the beginning...and let anything better come as a surprise.
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