QuoteProject
The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better.
Thomas Carlyle
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the significance of nature over man-made structures.

This quote by Thomas Carlyle contrasts the grandeur of old cathedrals, which symbolize human achievement and artistry, with the vastness and beauty of the sky represented by the 'great blue dome'. It suggests that while human creations are impressive, the natural world surpasses them in majesty and wonder, encouraging a perspective that values the environment around us.

Themes

NatureCathedralsBeautySkyPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the importance of environmental conservation.

More from Thomas Carlyle

The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Thirty millions, mostly fools.
Thomas CarlyleRead
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
Thomas CarlyleRead
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.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Thomas CarlyleRead
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.
Thomas CarlyleRead

Similar quotes

The real tragedy of our postcolonial world is not that the majority of people had no say in whether or not they wanted this new world; rather, it is that the majority have not been given the tools to negotiate this new world.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead
Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight.
Rollo MayRead
Taking somebody's money without permission is stealing, unless you work for the IRS; then it's taxation. Killing people en masse is homicidal mania, unless you work for the Army; then it's National Defense. Spying on your neighbors is invasion of privacy, unless you work for the FBI; then it's National Security. Running a whorehouse makes you a pimp and poisoning people makes you a murderer, unless you work for the CIA; then it's counter-intelligence.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for oneself the alternatives of choice.
Archibald MacleishRead
Beyond myself, somewhere, I wait for my arrival.
Octavio PazRead
Nothing that God has ever said about Himself will be modified; nothing the inspired prophets and apostles have said about Him will be rescinded. His immutability guarantees this.
Aiden Wilson TozerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.