Do not say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders, so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.
Interpretation
Actions speak louder than words; one's true character is revealed through behavior rather than declarations.
Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the importance of authenticity and integrity in our actions. He suggests that no matter what one claims to believe or profess, it is the reality of their character and actions that truly resonate and are perceived by others, overshadowing mere words and intentions.
In practice
In a leadership meeting, emphasize the importance of leading by example.
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?
Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.
It is not enough that your designs, nay that your actions, are intrinsically good, you must take care they shall appear so.
I learned: the first lesson of my life: nobody can face the world with his eyes open all the time.
The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful is the cause of half their errors.
The enlightened attention rejects nothing nor welcomes anything-like a mirror it responds equally to all.
No one has lived a short life who has performed its duties with unblemished character.
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