The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
The mystery of a person, indeed, is ever divine to him that has a sense for the godlike.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The complexity of a person is sacred and profound for those who appreciate the divine aspects of humanity.
This quote by Thomas Carlyle suggests that understanding a person's true essence or mystery is a divine experience, accessible only to those who possess a deeper sensitivity to the qualities that elevate humanity. It emphasizes the idea that the more profound a person is, the more they can inspire awe and reverence in others who appreciate the complexities of existence and the godlike nature within us all.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a personal development seminar, a speaker might use this quote to illustrate the importance of understanding the deeper aspects of oneself and others.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes βThirty millions, mostly fools.
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
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.
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
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.
Similar quotes
What do sad complaints avail if the offense is not cut down by punishment.
This is reality, whether you like it or not--all those frivolities of summer, the light and shadow, the living mask of green that trembled over everything, they were lies, and this is what was underneath. This is the truth.
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.
Freedom is a state of mind, I said wondering where I'd heard it before, not a state of being. We are all slaves to gravity and morality and the vicissitudes of nature. Our genes govern us much more than we'd like to think. Our bodies can not know absolute freedom but our minds can, can at least try.
When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.
There's no one thing that is true. They're all true.