The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the most valuable asset one can possess is a passionate and engaged spirit.
Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that the essence of a person's worth is not found in material possessions, status, or superficial accomplishments, but rather in the vibrancy and activity of their soul. An 'active soul' signifies a person who is engaged, aware, and passionately pursues their interests and values, contributing positively to themselves and the world around them.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
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.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
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.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
She loved the teachings of the Five Visions. Humility. Sacrifice. Seeing another's problems before your own. Yet she was beginning to think that she-- along with others-- had taken this belief too far, letting her desire to seem humble become a form of pride itself. She now saw that when her faith had become about clothing instead of people, it had taken a wrong turn.
Zeal without knowledge is fire without light.
I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.
Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater.
Oh what people of God we ought to be; and grace can make us so!
In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your piece of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadows of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities and there is no joy in things that do not exist.
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