Of all sound of all bells... most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the emotional significance of the transition from one year to the next.
Charles Lamb emphasizes the poignant resonance of the bells that mark the end of a year, suggesting that this moment is steeped in solemnity and deep emotional reflection. The tolling bells serve as a reminder of the passage of time, evoking feelings of nostalgia and contemplation about both the experiences of the past year and the hopes for the new one.
In practice
This quote could be used to reflect during a New Year's Eve gathering.
Thus, when the lamp that lighted The traveller at first goes out, He feels awhile benighted, And looks around in fear and doubt. But soon, the prospect clearing, By cloudless starlight on he treads, And thinks no lamp so cheering As that light which Heaven sheds.
As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see, So deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion, Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee. As still to the star of its worship, though clouded, The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea, So dark when I roam in this wintry world shrouded, The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee.
The most mortifying infirmity in human nature, to feel in ourselves, or to contemplate in another, is perhaps cowardice.
Oh, ever thus, from childhood's hour, I 've seen my fondest hopes decay; I never loved a tree or flower But 't was the first to fade away. I never nurs'd a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye, But when it came to know me well And love me, it was sure to die.
May my last breath be drawn through a pipe, and exhaled in a jest.
A pun is not bound by the laws which limit nicer wit. It is a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect.
You're living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution _x000D_ A time where there's got to be a change. People in power have misused it _x000D_ And now there has to be a change and a better world has to be built _x000D_ And the only way is going to be built is with extreme methods _x000D_ And I for one will join with anyone, don't care what color you are _x000D_ As long as you want change this miserable condition that exists on this earth
People who bring transformative change have courage, know how to re-frame the problem and have a sense of urgency.
Politicians and lawmakers are willing to watch us take us a knee, watch us march, watch us picket and protest - and wait us out. They are willing and prepared to outlast us - and, in most cases, to do absolutely nothing about the problems we highlight and amplify.
In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time - literally - substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.
We're never going to scare people into living more sustainably! We have to be able to demonstrate just how dynamic and aspirational such a world could be
You don't think you'll live past it and you don't really. The person you were is gone. But the half of you that's still alive wakes up one day and takes over again.
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