New York is the place where all the aspirations of the western world meet to form one vast master aspiration, as powerful as the suction of a steam dredge. It is the icing on the pie called Christian civilization.
Interpretation
New York symbolizes the convergence of ambitions from the Western world, embodying a powerful collective aspiration.
In this quote, H. L. Mencken suggests that New York City is a melting pot for the dreams and aspirations inherent to Western culture. He likens this confluence of ambition to a force as strong and unyielding as the suction of a steam dredge, emphasizing the city's role as a pinnacle of what he perceives as Christian civilization and its values, symbolizing both ambition and achievement.
In practice
During a motivational speech about pursuing dreams, one might quote Mencken to illustrate the power of collective ambition.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.
The idea of redemption is always good news, even if it means sacrifice or some difficult times.
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
It is very significant that some of the most thoughtful and cultured men are partisans of a pure vegetable diet
Oh that I could have the cross painted on my eyeballs, that I could not see anything except through the medium of my Savior’s passion!
It is impossible to deny that Christians and Muslims have a common agenda here: both faiths have at their heart the living image of a community raised up by God's call to reveal to the world what God's purpose is for humanity.
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