And truly it demands something god like in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster. High be his heart, faithful his will, clear his sight, that he may in good earnest be doctrine, society, law, to himself, that a simple purpose may be to him as strong as iron necessity is to others!
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the extraordinary strength required for an individual to live independently, guided by personal values rather than societal norms.
Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that true greatness lies in the ability of an individual to transcend common human motivations and to rely on oneself as the ultimate authority. This involves possessing a strong heart, a faithful will, and clear vision, allowing one to create their own doctrines and laws. Such self-reliance enables a person to pursue their purpose with the same determination that others have for survival.
In practice
In a motivational speech about self-discovery, one could use this quote to encourage individuality.
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?
Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can exist apart from religious principle.
For in the long run, either through a lie, or through truth, people were bound to give themselves away.
The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.
Neither science, nor the politics in power, nor the mass media, nor business, nor the law nor even the military are in a position to define or control risks rationally.
The best that we can do is to be kindly and helpful toward our friends and fellow passengers who are clinging to the same speck of dirt while we are drifting side by side to our common doom.
Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life.
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