The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
The three great elements of modern civilization, Gun powder, Printing, and the Protestant religion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Carlyle highlights three pivotal forces that shaped modern society: gunpowder for warfare, printing for communication, and Protestantism for faith.
In this quote, Thomas Carlyle identifies gunpowder, printing, and the Protestant religion as key elements that have significantly influenced modern civilization. Gunpowder signifies the advancement of military technology and the impact of war on society; printing represents the spread of knowledge and information, facilitating education and democratizing access to literature; and the Protestant religion symbolizes a major shift in spiritual beliefs, encouraging individualism and reformation in religious practices. Together, these elements underline the interplay between technology, communication, and faith in shaping contemporary life.
Themes
CivilizationGunpowderPrintingReligionModernity
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the impact of technology on society, this quote can illustrate how certain inventions have changed our world.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes βThirty millions, mostly fools.
Thomas CarlyleRead
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
Thomas CarlyleRead
For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
Thomas CarlyleRead
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We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is to learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.
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