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No one has a prosperity so high and firm that two or three words can't dishearten it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Words can significantly impact a person's state of prosperity and morale.

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the vulnerability of even the most prosperous individuals to negative words or criticism. It suggests that regardless of one's success or stability, the power of language can dishearten and demoralize, reminding us of the importance of kindness and the influential nature of our words.

Themes

WordsProsperityImpactCriticismEmotional Wellbeing

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech, one might cite this quote to illustrate the importance of supportive language.

More from Ralph Waldo Emerson

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.
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Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
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Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
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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.
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The world belongs to the energetic.
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Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
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