My principal motive is the belief that we can still make admirable sense of our lives even if we cease to have... an ambition of transcendence.
Interpretation
We can find meaning in our lives without striving for greatness or transcendence.
In this quote by Richard Rorty, he expresses the idea that individuals can derive significance and value from their lives even in the absence of lofty ambitions or aspirations for greatness. Rather than pursuing a transcendent purpose, Rorty suggests that the meaningful aspects of life can be found in our everyday experiences and connections with others.
In practice
In a motivational speech about finding purpose in everyday life, I would use this quote to emphasize the importance of gratitude and presence.
To say that truth is not out there is simply to say that where there are no sentences there is no truth, that sentences are elements of human languages, and that languages are human creations.~ The suggestion that truth~ is out there is a legacy of an age in which the world was seen as the creation of a being who had a language his own.
The world does not speak. Only we do. The world can, once we have programmed ourselves with a language, cause us to hold beliefs. But it cannot propose a language for us to speak. Only other human beings can do that.
Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.
National pride is to countries what self-respect is to individuals: a necessary condition for self-improvement.
A talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well is the chief instrument of cultural change.
There is nothing deep down inside us except what we have put there ourselves.
The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are clever as he.
If I had even a slight awareness, and practiced the Great Way, what I would fear would be deviating from it.
Nothing is so treacherous as the obvious.
The price of freedom is still, and always will be, eternal vigilance.
Do not commit spiritual suicide through a passion for discussing metaphysical subtleties.
So, at one extreme you have indigenous, tribal societies trying to stem the race to disaster. At the other extreme, the richest, most powerful societies in world history, like the United States and Canada, are racing full-speed ahead to destroy the environment as quickly as possible.
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