We are reformers in the spring and summer, but in autumn we stand by the old. Reformers in the morning, and conservers at night.
Interpretation
We often embrace new ideas and change during the bright and energetic times of our lives, but revert to tradition and stability as circumstances shift.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on the dual nature of human behavior regarding change and tradition. He suggests that individuals often embody the spirit of reform and progress during the 'spring and summer' phases of life, symbolizing youth and enthusiasm, while they tend to cling to established norms and conservatism during the 'autumn' and 'night,' representing maturity and the desire for stability. This duality highlights the balance between innovation and tradition in human experiences.
In practice
During a motivational speech about embracing new ideas while respecting past achievements.
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?
Those who wish to change things may face disappointment, loss, or even ridicule. If you are ahead of your time, people laugh as often as they applaud, and being there first is usually lonely. But our protection cannot come between us and our purpose. Right protection is something within us rather than something between us and the world, more about finding a place of refuge and strength than finding a hiding place.
The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line, -- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.
From the pain come the dream_x000D_ From the dream come the vision_x000D_ From the vision come the people_x000D_ From the people come the power_x000D_ From this power come the change.
There is nothing wrong with changing a plan when the situation has changed.
It's time for a new National Anthem. America is divided into two definite divisions. The easy thing to cop out with is sayin' black and white. You can see a black person. But now to get down to the nitty-gritty, it's getting' to be old and young - not the age, but the way of thinking. Old and new, actually... because there's so many even older people that took half their lives to reach a certain point that little kids understand now.
Aging is not "lost youth" but a new stage of opportunity and strength.
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