The search after the great men is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of manhood.
Interpretation
The pursuit of greatness is a youthful aspiration that becomes a profound commitment in adulthood.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on the journey of an individual's life, suggesting that the youthful desire to seek out greatness is not merely a fleeting dream but evolves into a significant and serious endeavor during manhood. This search signifies an ongoing quest for inspiration and ideals that can shape and define one's existence, implying that the ideals we pursue in youth frame the responsibilities and pursuits we undertake in adulthood.
In practice
In a speech about personal growth, one could use this quote to inspire the audience to pursue their ideals.
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?
Live as if you were living already for the second time.
There is nothing foolish about hope.
Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended upon man.
Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom.
You shouldn't be a prisoner of your own ideas.
Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.
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