Truth is one forever absolute, but opinion is truth filtered through the moods, the blood, the disposition of the spectator.
Wendell PhillipsRead
How prudently most men creep into nameless graves, while now and then one or two forget themselves into immortality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Most people live cautiously and insignificantly, while a few achieve lasting greatness.
Wendell Phillips suggests that the majority of people go through life in a mundane and cautious manner, ultimately leading to a life that lacks recognition or impact, represented metaphorically as 'nameless graves.' Conversely, he points out that a select few break free from societal norms and expectations, creating a legacy that transcends their time, thus achieving 'immortality' in the memory of others through their actions and contributions.
Themes
PrudenceImmortalityLifeImpactLegacy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used to inspire students to take risks and live boldly during a graduation speech.
More from Wendell Phillips
All quotes βSeldom ever was any knowledge given to keep, but to impart; the grace of this rich jewel is lost in concealment.
Wendell PhillipsRead
If you want to be an orator, first get your great cause.
Wendell PhillipsRead
Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people.
Wendell PhillipsRead
Organize, and stand together. Claim something together, and at once; let the nation hear a united demand from the laboring voice, and then, when you have got that, go on after another; but get something.
Wendell PhillipsRead
Write on my gravestone: 'Infidel, Traitor.', infidel to every church that compromises with wrong; traitor to every government that oppresses the people.
Wendell PhillipsRead
Similar quotes
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.
Mae WestRead
Race and class are rendered distinct analytically only to produce the realization that the analysis of the one cannot proceed without the other. A different dynamic it seems to me is at work in the critique of new sexuality studies.
Judith ButlerRead
What seems fair enough against a squalid huckster of bad liquor may take on a different face, if used by a government determined to suppress political opposition under the guise of sedition.
Learned HandRead
Our judgments when we are pleased and friendly are not the same as when we are pained and hostile.
AristotleRead
He was alone. The past was dead, the future was unimaginable.
George OrwellRead
While one might laugh at the meaningless boredom of people a decade or two ago, the emptiness has for many now moved from the state of boredom to a state of futility and despair, which holds promise of dangers.
Rollo MayRead