Some men's words I remember so well that I must often use them to express my thought. Yes, because I perceive that we have heard the same truth, but they have heard it better.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the importance of valuing the words of others who articulate truths more effectively.
Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on how the wisdom of certain individuals resonates with him so deeply that he finds himself quoting them to convey his own thoughts. This suggests that while we may understand certain truths, others may express them in ways that are clearer or more impactful, emphasizing the value of effective communication and shared understanding of wisdom.
In practice
In a discussion about great thinkers, you could quote Emerson to illustrate the power of eloquent expression.
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?
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.
Perfectionism is self destructive simply because there's no such thing as perfect. Perfection is an unattainable goal.
Thus I came up out of Egypt and stood before Sinai, and a power divine touched my spirit and gave it sight, so that I beheld many wonders. And from the sacred mountain I heard a voice which said, ‘Knowledge is love and light and vision.
Virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise, and tunes herself, as it were, a trifle sharp to allow for an inevitable fall in playing.
Wise men say, and not without reason, that whosoever wished to foresee the future might consult the past.
We are not saints. We know we make mistakes, but at least our heart is with the right cause.
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