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.
We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.
The most fateful change that unfolded during the past three decades was not an increase in greed. It was the expansion of markets, and of market values, into spheres of life where they don’t belong.
Flaws and all, I believe the free press is our country's most important institution - one I am more than happy to defend. One I did, in fact, defend for 37 years.
There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls, Doing more murder in this loathsome world, Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
Jesus Christ does not teach us a spirituality “of closed eyes”, but one of “alertness”, one which entails an absolute duty to take notice of the needs of others and of situations involving those whom the Gospel tells us are our neighbours. The gaze of Jesus, what “his eyes” teach us, leads to human closeness, solidarity, giving time, sharing our gifts and even our material goods.
Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value we are all the same.
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