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?
The sign of vigour, the sign of life, the sign of hope, the sign of health, the sign of everything that is good, is strength. As long as the body lives, there must be strength in the body, strength in the mind, [and strength] in the hand.
My mother said, "Money is a great slave but a horrible master." It was her version of a French proverb.
Use your youth so that you may have comfort to remember it when it has forsaken you, and not sigh and grieve at the account thereof.
The main cause of poverty or financial struggle is fear and ignorance, not the economy or the government or the rich.
The ego wants to want more than it wants to have.
What we learn through failure becomes a precious part of us, strengthening us in everything we do. So let the tough things make you tougher.
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