What you do thunders above your head so loudly, I cannot hear the words you speak.
Interpretation
Actions carry more weight than words; what you do speaks louder than what you say.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the importance of actions over words. It suggests that one's behavior and deeds are powerful indicators of true intent and character, often overshadowing verbal communication. In this sense, it serves as a reminder to be mindful of how our actions reflect our beliefs and values.
In practice
In a discussion about leadership, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of demonstrating values through actions.
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?
Trust who and what you are, and the universe will support you in miraculous ways.
Learn young about hard work and manners - and you'll be through the whole dirty mess and nicely dead again before you know it.
Man is only great when he acts from passion.
Without an uninvestigated story, there's only the perfection of life appearing as itself. You can always go inside and find the beauty that's revealed after the pain and fear are understood.
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
Not that I am ashamed of my mind or body, my birth or breeding, my actions or fortunes, for my bashfulness is in my nature, not for any crime.
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