If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the transformative power of revolution, highlighting the juxtaposition of the old and the new.
Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the importance of living in a time of revolution, where individuals can witness and compare the fading histories of the past alongside the promising potentials of the future. This era of transformation evokes strong feelings of fear and hope, prompting humanity to confront its past glories while embracing the opportunities that change brings.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a discussion on social change and transformation.
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?
All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clearer.
Tackling climate change is a collective endeavour, it means collective accountability and it's not too late
I feel like the sixties is about to happen. It feels like a period in the future to me, rather than a period in the past.
All beginnings are involuntary.
It is perfectly obvious that the whole world is going to hell. The only possible chance that it might not is that we do not attempt to prevent it from doing so.
The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.
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