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?
It is fair to write about the change in your magazines. But what I want to see is the change on your covers ... When the covers change, that's when culture changes.
It's not about the fish; it's not about the pollution; it's not about the climate change. It's about us and our greed and our need for growth and our inability to imagine a world that is different from the selfish world we live in today.
There will never be a new world order until women are a part of it.
Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving.
Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
Overcoming complacency is crucial at the start of any change process, and it often requires a little bit of surprise, something that grabs attention at more than an intellectual level. You need to surprise people with something that disturbs their view that everything is perfect.
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