Beauty is God's handwriting β a wayside sacrament; welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower, and thank for it Him.
He was one of those men who possess almost every gift, except the gift of the power to use them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the importance of not just having talents, but also the ability to effectively utilize them.
This quote by Charles Kingsley reflects on the idea that possessing talent or gifts is not sufficient for success or fulfillment; one must also have the capacity to put those gifts to practical use. It suggests that many individuals may have numerous abilities, yet without the wisdom or power to deploy them meaningfully, those abilities can go to waste. The essence of the quote serves as a reminder that the application of one's skills is crucial in achieving any form of greatness or personal satisfaction.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal development.
More from Charles Kingsley
All quotes βTake comfort, and recollect however little you and I may know, God knows; He knows Himself and you and me and all things; and His mercy is over all His works.
Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.
Do today's duty, fight to-day's temptation; and do not weaken and distract yourself by looking forward to things which you cannot see, and could not understand if you saw them.
You must not talk about 'ain't and can't' when you speak of this great wonderful world round you, of which the wisest man knows only the very smallest corner, and is, as the great Sir Isaac Newton said, only a child picking up pebbles on the shore of a boundless ocean.
A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.
Similar quotes
Owing to some peculiarity in my nervous system, I have perception of some things, which no one else has; or at least very few, if any... I can throw rays from every quarter of the universe into one vast focus.
There is no good in anything until it is finished.
Presumption must be quenched even more than a fire.
Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey. To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light.
Being self-critical is good; being self-hating is destructive. There's a very fine line there somewhere, and I walk it carefully.
Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.