If two lives join, there is oft a scar. They are one and one, with a shadowy third; One near one is too far.
Robert BrowningRead
All service ranks the same with God,- With God, whose puppets, best and worst, Are we: there is no last nor first.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that all acts of service hold equal value in the eyes of God, emphasizing the importance of humility and equality in human actions.
Robert Browning's quote reflects on the nature of service and its standing before a higher power, suggesting that in the grand scheme of existence, all acts of service are equal regardless of social rank or title. It conveys a profound notion of humility, highlighting that everyone, as mere puppets in the hands of God, plays a role in the tapestry of life and thereby diminishes the value of worldly distinctions such as 'last' or 'first'.
Themes
ServiceHumilityEqualityGodValue
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about charity, a speaker might use this quote to emphasize the importance of serving others humbly.
More from Robert Browning
All quotes βTis Man's to explore up and down, inch by inch, with the taper his reason.
Robert BrowningRead
I think, am sure, a brother's love exceeds_x000D_ _x000D_ All the world's loves in its unworldliness.
Robert BrowningRead
I dare not so honor my mere wishes and prayers as to put them for a moment beside your noble acts; but this know, I would rather submit to the worst of deaths, so far as pain goes, than have a single dog or cat tortured on the pretence of sparing me a twinge or two.
Robert BrowningRead
How well I know what I mean to do When the long dark Autumn evenings come, And where, my soul, is thy pleasant hue? With the music of all thy voices, dumb In lifeβs November too! I shall be found by the fire, suppose, Oβer a great wise book as beseemeth age, While the shutters flap as the cross-wind blows, And I turn the page, and I turn the page, Not verse now, only prose!
Robert BrowningRead
How good is life, the mere living!
Robert BrowningRead
Similar quotes
My autobiography is a digressive illustration and exemplification of what race has meant in the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.
W. E. B. Du BoisRead
What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
James MadisonRead
You can't escape the past in Paris, and yet what's so wonderful about it is that the past and present intermingle so intangibly that it doesn't seem to burden.
Allen GinsbergRead
There would seem to be nothing more obvious, more tangible and palpable than the present moment. And yet it eludes us completely. All the sadness of life lies in that fact. In the course of a single second, our senses of sight, of hearing, of smell, register (knowingly or not) a swarm of events and a parade of sensations and ideas passes through our head. Each instant represents a little universe, irrevocably forgotten in the next instant.
Milan KunderaRead
Condemning all women in order to help some misguided men get over their foolish behaviour is tantamount to denouncing fire, which is a vital and beneficial element, just because some people are burnt by it, or to cursing water just because some people are drowned in it.
Christine De PizanRead
A curious thing about Ugu the Shoemaker was that he didn't suspect in the least that he was wicked. He wanted to be powerful and great, and he hoped to make himself master of all the Land of Oz that he might compel everyone in that fairy country to obey him, His ambition blinded him to the rights of others, and he imagined anyone else would act just as he did if anyone else happened to be as clever as himself.
L. Frank BaumRead