Have mountains, and waves, and skies, no significance but what we consciously give them, when we employ them as emblems of our thoughts?
Interpretation
The meaning we assign to nature is shaped by our thoughts and perspectives.
In this quote, Emerson reflects on how the natural elements of mountains, waves, and skies do not possess inherent significance; rather, their meaning arises from the way we choose to interpret and represent them in relation to our thoughts and emotions. This underscores the power of human perception and the subjective nature of meaning in the world around us.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of perspective in art, this quote can illustrate how artists imbue meaning into their work based on their thoughts.
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?
Jesus Christ as only an example will crush you. You'll never be able to live up to it. But Jesus Christ as the Lamb will save you.
Here is a humanist proposition for the age of Google: The processing of information is not the highest aim to which the human spirit can aspire, and neither is competitiveness in a global economy. The character of our society cannot be determined by engineers.
The law has no claim to human respect. It has no civilizing mission; its only purpose is to protect exploitation.
The common man, no matter how sharp and tough, actually enjoys having the wool pulled over his eyes, and makes it easier for the puller.
The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehemence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the profound philosopher to a mere plebeian
An agnostic position is one that leaves open the question whether there exists a god or gods, professing to find such a question unanswered or unanswerable. For the atheist, the question has been answered, and in the negative.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.